The UAE has agreed to buy Maverick air-to-surface missiles from US defence contractor Raytheon. The $170m contract will provide the production and life-cycle support for more than 500 of the AGM-65D/G2 infrared-guided missiles.

The contract was awarded to Raytheon by the US Air Force through the Foreign Military Sales Programme, according to a Raytheon spokesman.

More than 69,000 of these missiles have been produced to date, and over 6,000 have been used in combat with a success rate of 93 per cent, says Raytheon.