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The United Kingdom has denied that Saudi Arabia is set to join a multinational initiative to develop a sixth-generation fighter jet, following a claim by Saudi defence minister Prince Khalid Bin Salman.

UAE state-owned defence conglomerate Edge Group dominated the contract awards at the latest running of the International Defence Exhibition (Idex) and Naval Defence Exhibition (Navdex) in Abu Dhabi in February.

The Qatar Emiri Naval Forces (QENF) launched its coastal missile defence system at the Umm Al-Houl naval base late February. In September 2016, Qatar signed a deal with European defence group MBDA for a coastal defence system using the extended range version of the Marte missile and Exocet MM40 Block 3 missile.

Major General Pilot Sheikh Ahmed Bin Tahnoun Bin Mohammed Al-Nahyan was named deputy chief of staff of the UAE Armed Forces. He previously served as National and Reserve Service Authority chairman, overseeing the launch of national service for UAE citizens in 2014.

Control of the Asir region has fluctuated between different groups over the centuries. By the 1830s, the Al-Ayed dynasty was in control, until the area was captured by the Ottomans in the late 1860s. Saudi Arabia’s founder King Abdelaziz (Ibn Saud) brought Asir under his direct rule in the early 1920s.

Recent developments Attempts continue to renew the ceasefire in Yemen, but the emphasis has switched to finding a permanent settlement. Much of recent diplomatic activity has been necessarily secret. Saudi Arabia appears more urgently determined to extract itself from the war.

Boats based on the UK’s Bladerunner design are now operational, and can fire two active radar 90km range Nasir CM-90 anti-ship missiles developed by Iran from the Chinese C-704.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the United States agreed with the United Nations consensus view that Al-Qaeda veteran Saif Al-Adel was now de facto head of the jihadist group and that he was based in Iran.

Convincing forensic evidence of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aerospace activity has emerged from the hard drive of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) seized at sea last year in a British naval anti-smuggling operation. Analysis of the quadcopter drone, seized in early 2022 from smuggler boats heading for Yemen, found details of pre-shipment test flights conducted at the IRGC Aerospace Force’s test facility, which is believed to be located at Chitgar in north-western Tehran.

Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri has been seen inspecting a new tactical airbase named Oghrab-44 (Eagle-44), as he used an official video to introduce Iranians to the facility, located in mountainous terrain in the south. Bagheri said similar facilities were being built in other mountainous areas.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (Nedsa) has been converting another container ship to naval use. The 36,000t Shahid Bagheri has been pictured getting a flight deck similar to the Shahid Mahdavi, which was seen anchored off Bandar Abbas in mid-February.

In his new book, 25 Days to Aden, regional risk and security expert Michael Knights – a former contributor to GSN – has offered an unprecedented view of the UAE as a rising, and effective, military power, as it became embroiled in the Yemen conflict.

French naval forces seized more than 3,000 assault rifles, 578,000 rounds of ammunition and 23 advanced anti-tank guided missiles in the Gulf of Oman mid-January. The action was announced by US Central Command in February, which said it happened “along routes historically used to traffic weapons unlawfully from Iran to Yemen”.

Turkey’s Baykar Technology is to supply an unspecified number of its Bayraktar TB2 armed drones to Kuwait's Ministry of Defence, in a $370m deal announced in January. The deal means 28 countries have now signed contracts for the Bayraktar TB2, including Qatar.

An attack by suspected Israeli drones appeared to cause relatively minor damage to a military base in the central city of Isfahan late January. Iranian officials described the facility as a workshop, but did not give further details of its function.