Batches of academically qualified professionals from the Emirati nationals, as well as Gulf and Arab citizens, are flocking nowadays to the military colleges in UAE, which have become comparable to the major international specialized security institutions.
Since the foundation, the Government realized the importance of meeting the Armed Forces need for qualified and trained national cadres with appropriate military and scientific qualifications, and hence, it established military academies such as the Joint Command and Staff College (JCSC), Zayed II Military College, Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Naval College, Khalifa bin Zayed Air College, as well as the Nursing School, security academies and the National Defense College.
The military institutes in the country play a great role in developing the strategic thinking and provide those concerned with the strategic and security studies that pave the way for adopting a rigorous scientific approach to develop the relevant plans, and open the door for preparing and qualifying the military and civil leadership and enhance their capacities to identify and evaluate challenges of the national, regional and global security, and understand the basis and requirements of managing and using the country’s resources for protection of the national interests, not only for the sons of the countries, as the list is full of officers from the Gulf, Arab and foreigners who graduated from our institutes and assumed high military ranks and positions in their home countries.
However, this indicates the confidence in the leadership keenness to attract the best education professionals and experts in the fields of defense, and collaborate with the local, regional and international research institutions and concluding strategic partnerships with the leading research and scientific institutions.
These academies do not only establish the theoretical and knowledge of combative doctrines of the modern armies, but they also play a fundamental role in the technological and technical development of armies and use of advanced military arms and enhance the necessary skills and awareness of the operational and combative performance.
Recently, the Ministry of Defense has opened admissions for young Emirati girls to join its Female Air Cadet Pilot program at Khalifa bin Zayed Air College, with the high proficiency demonstrated by the Emirati women in the battlefields such as Mariam Al Mansouri, the first female fighter pilot.
