Raytheon Emirates to co-produce Coyote C-UAS interceptor in the UAE

Fahad Al Mheiri, managing director of Raytheon Emirates has been enthusing about it and was keen to stress that this was not just manufacturing components, but an actual end product, providing the company with its first ‘real big product’. 

Achieving this without first undertaking smaller scale component manufacturing marks a ‘giant step’ for Raytheon Emirates.

Coyote is an agile, highly capable counter to a range of drone threats and is a relatively new programme of record, and not a legacy product. 

Al Mheiri hopes that the first assembly line outside the USA will allow something that is now available only via the US foreign military sales (FMS) process to become available via direct commercial sales – “selling globally to the world”. 

He believes that the first Emirati-assembled Coyote will be delivered in a little over two years. But, before that, Emirati-built components for the Coyote interceptor will feed into Raytheon’s US production line. 

This follows yesterday’s MoU signatures with five UAE defence industry partners – EPI, Halcon, Lahab Defense Systems, Rockford Xellerix, and Milectria.

“Raytheon Emirates is proud to have worked alongside Tawazun to bring co-production of the Coyote interceptor to the UAE,” Al Mheiri said.

“We know, from our nearly 40-year relationship with the UAE, that this country has the talent, infrastructure, and government support to make an undertaking like this possible. This coproduction of Coyote, a critical defence capability for countries that face an evolving drone threat, will simultaneously grow the local defence ecosystem while also enhancing Raytheon Technologies’ global supply chain.” 

Emirati production of the Coyote interceptor, and its components, is only a first step for Raytheon Emirates, which hopes to help the company’s suppliers develop their capabilities and to contribute components for many more Raytheon products. 

There is, as yet, no formal local requirement for the Coyote, but Al Mheiri said that he is “not too worried about that, as we are looking at a programme with a global scale.”