Eng.

Yaqoob Al Shamsi
Short Opinion Article
1/7/2016

On The Militarization of Scientific Research in

the United Arab Emirates

On The Militarization of Scientific Research in the

United Arab Emirates
It was not more than six years after the first airplane invented by the Wright Brothers
that the United States military started to militarize airplanes1. By acknowledging that air
superiority is a newly added brush in the art of war, airplanes became faster, heavier, and
stealthier by the decade. However, the militarization of an airplane was expected as it was
done before with the hot air balloon. Nevertheless, it is evident that all technologies are
exponentially developing when its militarized. OKAY! So how do we benefit from this idea
as the new Emirati scientific research pioneers? Well first, as the country is still building
its scientific research plan, one day at a time, it should be highly recommended that the
militarization of all scientific research becomes its main goal. It may seem debatable to some
scientific researchers that not all scientific progress can be done through militarizing it,
however, it is evident for many engineers and scientists that militarizing a scientific research
is what uncover new science fields. Therefore, we can learn from modern history how many
of our technologies that are brought to us today were once militarized at a point of the
research. Second, there should be a milestone on the timeline where the militarization of
scientific research is published to the public society after setting it to become harmless and
controllable.
Furthermore, space exploration research brought us many technologies2 that we use
every day. For example, in the field of environmental and agricultural resources, the outcome
given was harnessing solar energy, pollution remediation, and water purification. Also, in the
field transportation, the outcome given was anti-icing systems, highway safety, and chemical
detection. Moreover, many examples can be given in health, medicine, public safety, and
computer technology. However, the funding for space exploration accelerated when President
J. F. Kennedy promised to go to the moon. As much as his speeches were inspirational, world
renowned scientist and science popularizer Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson argues that the United
States managed to put a man on the moon because of militarization motives3. Therefore,
civilian funding is considered an anomaly if the wish was to start modern scientific research.
In addition to the militarization of space exploration, another field of science once
militarized and flourished was chemistry. For example, the funding of particle accelerators
uncovered elements 93 to 103 in the periodic table. Also, many other elements if we counted
from 113 to 1184. However, once the military stopped the funding, particle accelerators
research deaccelerated in growth. Hence, we can deduce that the Higgs particle could have
been discovered ahead of its time if the militarization of the field continued. Moreover,
another example of militarizing physics and chemistry is the Manhattan Project5. Once the
Jakab Peter J, The worlds first military airplane, The National Air and Space Museum, United
States. July 23 2009. http://blog.nasm.si.edu/aviation/the-world%E2%80%99s-first-military-airplane/
2
https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2008/tech_benefits.html
3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWqNYiCAbsY
4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp6cnp1kZBY
5
http://www.ushistory.org/us/51f.asp
1

United States developed an atomic program, the nuclear bomb was an outcome. Therefore, it
may seem that not all militarization of scientific research is a beneficial result to humanity.
However, safe nuclear power was another outcome from the project.
By taking the lessons of the past from a globalization perspective, it can be deduced
that the militarization of a scientific research exponentially advances the research, but does
not promise any safety. A counter thought is the philosophy of progress in civilization. For
example, the invention of the spear is considered good progress. A method used to kill the
herd by setting a human capability limitation on the number of preys hunted in the day.
However, when the hunter-gatherer who invented a method to move large rocks and traps the
herd in one zone, then there is no limitation to the human capability causing a disruption in
the food chain. Therefore, not all progress is considered good progress6.
Moreover, to avoid bad progress, the public opinion should have access to use,
publish, and restrict the use of research if it is not controllable by the military. For example,
the internet was used by the U.S. military for a period of time before it was published to the
public. As a result of the publication, the internet was used to develop all kinds of
communication, media, and technologies. Therefore, once a scientific research is guaranteed
to be controllable by the military, then a publication of that research to the public is a must to
be developed.
Furthermore, it should be noted that an existence of a UAE DRA (Defense Research
Agency) is a necessity to set a government authority of scientific research militarization in
motion. For example, once the UAE DRA analyzes the beneficial research from the Ministry
of Higher Education and Scientific Research or UAE scientists council, the military ranks
the importance of the research to set its priorities. Then, local defense companies and
educational institutions are given the scope of the projects. However, different restrictions
should be set on level of clearances from defense companies to local universities.
Additionally, once the projects are beneficial to the military, then UAE DRA publishes the
research after it becomes harmless and controlled by the military for further development by
the public or under public funding.
In conclusion, many fields of sciences are needed to be funded by the military for
scientific progress. However, for that progress to become beneficial to society, it needs to be
contained by a government authority. Therefore, the government authority (Defense Research
Agency) should be the militarizing starting point for all scientific research brought to the
public. Once it becomes containable, the research is published for development by the public.
Additionally, all scientists should have absolute loyalty in militarys interests and demands,
as its main purpose is to protect this beloved prosperous country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4at5i-oMqE