Abu Dhabi: Caracal, a UAE-based small arms manufacturer, has named an assault rifle in memory of the late Colonel Sultan Mohammad Ali Al Ketbi, who was martyred whilst on active duty in Yemen.
“We asked for permission from the Commander of the UAE Armed Forces… to honour Sultan, and to honour all of our martyrs, we named a rifle after him, out of respect,” said Nasser Ali Alomaira, senior special projects manager of Caracal, told Gulf News in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
The Caracal Sultan, formerly known as the CAR 816, will have an engraving of his face on every magazine — the lower section of the weapon that contains the ammunition.
“In terms of the deal we have with GHQ [the General Headquarters of the UAE’s Armed Forces] to supply more than 50,000 rifles, the agreement now is for all of the still undelivered rifles to be Caracal Sultans,” said Alomaira, speaking at Idex, the defence exhibition taking place in Abu Dhabi this week.
Founded in 2007, Caracal, a company owned by Emirates Defence Industries Company (EDIC), produces a variety of original small arms for the military and law enforcement arms.
Sultan, who is from Sharjah, is survived by his wife and seven children — four daughters and three boys.
He is the highest-ranked UAE soldier to be martyred since the start of Operation Restoring Hope, where the country is fighting alongside the Saudi-led Arab coalition to support the legitimate government of Yemen.
Sultan was well known for helping people in his community and participated in lots of charitable work, including building mosques and digging wells.
He was martyred on December 15, 2015, in an operation to liberate the city of Taiz.
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