France's MBDA and Dassault Aviation plan to open a missile engineering facility and a flight testing centre in the United Arab Emirates, the UAE's defence and security industry enabler Tawazun Economic Council said on Saturday.

The announcement comes on the eve of the biennial Dubai Air Show which begins on Sunday as the UAE steps up efforts to bolster its indigenous defence capabilities.

Tawazun will sign an agreement with MBDA to set up the French company's first missile engineering centre in the region, it said in a statement, adding the centre will establish expertise in development and engineering of weapon systems.

Tawazun will also sign an agreement with Dassault Aviation to set up a flight testing centre in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, it said.

"The facility will play a pivotal role in laying the foundation for future programmes of flight testing in the region, to support integration and development for the defence sector," it said.

Tawazun also announced an agreement between Italy's aerospace and defence giant, Leonardo SPA and Abu Dhabi Aviation Training Centre (ADATC) for the latter to house the AW169 and AW139 pilot training simulators.

As the first and only regional centre to have such capabilities, "the simulators will offer timely, cost-effective and integrated training solutions within the UAE," it said.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

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