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A plan to reform the Peshmerga militia in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is in deep trouble due to the inability of the region's two main parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), to work together.

Personnel from Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are among the 8,000 troops from 19 African, European and Middle East countries involved in the Bright Star 23 exercise, which is being led by the United States and Egypt, and is centred around the Mohammed Neguib Military Base, west of Alexandria.

A joint exercise between the Chinese and UAE air forces appears to have gone ahead in August, although neither side has since offered any clear details of an event that could trouble western allies on several fronts, while emphasising Abu Dhabi’s determination to become a 'middle power' in a multi-polar international environment.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (Iriaf) has reportedly received two Russian-made Yakovlev Yak-130 advanced training jets. As yet, however, there is no sign of a promised delivery of Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets making their way to Iran.

Bahrain's King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa issued a decree appointing a number of senior police and other security officials.

Further questions have been raised about the UAE's military interests in Africa, with Abu Dhabi denying a report it has been supplying weapons to one of the sides in Sudan’s civil war, while acknowledging deliveries to neighbouring Chad.

Saudi Arabia is continuing to push to join an initiative by Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom to develop a sixth-generation fighter jet. Saudi defence minister Prince Khalid Bin Salman had claimed in March the kingdom was set to join the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme but this was soon politely denied by the UK. 

A Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado fighter jet crashed late August during a routine training mission in Dhahran. The two crew members survived and there were no injuries on the ground.  It was the second loss of an aircraft in as many months.

Pictures of armoured vehicles manufactured by Calidus on parade in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) underline the Abu Dhabi-based military hardware company's growing reach.

Securing workable energy, economic and security relations with Turkey has even greater urgency for Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government as the KRG says it can no longer afford to pay its employees’ salaries due to the closure since late March of the vital crude oil export pipeline.

A Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) F-15 SA fighter jet crashed, and its crew was killed, on 26 July, while taking part in a training mission around the city of Khamis Mushait. It is the second serious incident involving an RSAF F-15 jet, after an F-15 S crashed last November, during a routine training mission in the King Abdelaziz Air Base training area in Eastern province.

Former senior Parastin intelligence agency officer Brigadier General Mohammed Mirza Sindi was killed in Zakho, Iraq's Dohuk governorate, when the car he was travelling in exploded. Parastin has close links to the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Saudi Arabia signed a deal to buy the Akinci combat drone from Turkey’s Baykar Technology, during a visit to the kingdom by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Bayraktar called it the largest defence and aviation export contract in Turkish history.

The United States has stepped up its military presence in the region, with additional aircraft, naval vessels and personnel being deployed to the Gulf. This has led analysts to suggest that Washington was preparing to deal with a wider range of threats, perhaps in anticipation of a formal collapse in negotiations with Iran to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal.

A mooted deal for Iran to acquire Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Russia appears to have been suspended, as defence minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani told local media the transaction was not moving ahead.