The United States and the United Arab Emirates have held the first meeting of a Joint Military Commission (JMC) aimed at formalizing their growing defense cooperation, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Peter Rodman said the U.A.E. would take delivery of the first batch of 80 U.S.-built F-16 Falcon fighters in May and confirmed that an Emirati military air flight training center involving "outside" countries was now operational.According to an earlier report, the "outside" countries include the UK and France as well as the US and pilots from the entire region will be trained, not just those from the UAE.
Rodman wouldn't detail the UAE's "good, quiet cooperation" dating back to Gulf War I. He did insist, however, that the US
"is not interested in having permanent bases in this part of the world. What we want to have is relationships that could give us access in some emergency, access to a facility by mutual consent" he added.Well, I guess that makes sense, doesn't it? Why incur the expense of a permanent base if you can get someone else to pay for it while you get to use it whenever you want?
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