ABSTRACT
This report considers the requirements for what is collectively termed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) across the armed services of the Gulf Arab countries, and in the five domains: land, sea, air, space and cyber. It reviews how the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – have so far attempted to meet national ISR requirements, and how these needs might be better fulfilled in the future. It also reviews how external security actors in the Gulf and wider Middle East region – including the United States and Russia – have used and continue to use national ISR capabilities to support regional security and foreign-policy goals.
