Abu Dhabi Defence Force

This file relates to the Abu Dhabi Defence Force (ADDF). It contains correspondence concerning:

• A request by the UK Ambassador to the UAE C J Treadwell for a presentational copy of a book on cavalry uniforms, by Philip Henry Smitherman, for Colonel Sadiq, a Pakistani advisor in the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Defence
• ADDF Commander Brigadier J R D Sharpe's relationship with UAE President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Defence; and proposals for the promotion of Gulf Arab officers
• A posting order for Lieutenant Colonel R M Harms; and the cancellation of Major C Lindsay's appointment
• The transfer of loan officers from the ADDF to the Sultan's Armed Forces, particularly the question of transferring Major E R L Jones to an intelligence post
• Provision for HMG to withdraw loaned personnel
• The question of jurisdiction over seconded personnel from Sudan
• An ADDF aircraft crash near Al Ain killing the British pilot, Captain W D P Jones
• The declining status of Pakistani personnel in the ADDF and Abu Dhabi Ministry of Defence
• A threat by Under-Secretary of the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Defence Sheikh Faisal Bin Sultan Al Qasimi to terminate the Airwork Services Limited contract after employees went on strike
• An Intelligence Report covering the ADDF and Abu Dhabi Ministry of Defence, including diagrams and notes on the command structure, deployment, recruitment, proposed communications network, radar, prominent personnel, different units, and the activities of the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf (PFLOAG)
• The arrest of an Omani officer after an ADDF shooting incident at Band Hazar, south of Al Hamra near the border with Saudi Arabia
• The question of handing over Omani dissidents in the ADDF to Muscat
• The question of Sheikh Zayed sending two squadrons to support the Arabs in the war with Israel, and the implications for British loaned personnel; and Prime Minister Edward Heath's consideration of whether it is possible to prevent British pilots contracted direct to the ADDF becoming involved, with P R H Wright's comment that the involvement of British pilots might help Britain's relations with the Arab States
• The initial views of the new ADDF Deputy Commander Colonel Pope who will command the Land Force when the three components are separated
• A request for permission for two British officers from the ADDF, Major J R Smales and Captain A E Wallington, to visit Kabul on leave
• The Joint Intelligence Committee's concern that Sheikh Faisal is manipulating the appointments of officers to key positions in the ADDF and that he is a threat to continued British influence
• A press cutting from the Financial Times, entitled 'Emirates to replace British officers', dated 7 December 1973