UK-UAE special relationship, post 1971 ?

[Archibald]

Spun out of Eyes turned Skywards, with a larger overall goal.

From wikipedia...

Quote:
On 24 January 1968, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced its decision, reaffirmed in March 1971 by Prime Minister Edward Heath to end the treaty relationships with the seven trucial sheikhdoms which had been, together with Bahrain and Qatar, under British protection. Days after the announcement, the ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, fearing vulnerability, tried to persuade the British to honour the protection treaties by providing the full costs of keeping the British Armed Forces in the Emirates.

(that would be POD. Let's start a "special relationship" from this point)

Not only did the British Labour government rebuff the offer, it did so in a way that offended the Emirati rulers.[33] After Labour MP Goronwy Roberts informed Sheikh Zayed of the news of British withdrawal, the nine Gulf sheikhdoms attempted to form a union of Arab emirates, but by mid-1971 they were still unable to agree on terms of union even though the British treaty relationship was to expire in December of that year.[34] Bahrain became independent in August, and Qatar in September 1971. When the British-Trucial Sheikhdoms treaty expired on December 1, 1971, they became fully independent.[35] The rulers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai decided to form a union between their two emirates independently, prepare a constitution, then call the rulers of the other five emirates to a meeting and offer them the opportunity to join. It was also agreed between the two that the constitution be written by December 2, 1971.[36] On that date, at the Dubai Guesthouse Palace, four other emirates agreed to enter into a union called the United Arab Emirates. Ras al-Khaimah joined later, in early 1972.[37][38]
What if that arrangement worked - and then, the UAE did the same for the British space program ? Notably the diminutive Black Arrow ?

Man, that would be fun. British rockets launched from Somalia with UAE money... I like this.
We should have a dedicated TL for that.

After 1945 the United Kingdom was nearly broke, and that's a shame, because their aerospace industry still had a lot of interesting things to offer.
I don't believe a Commonwealth space program was doable, simply because Commonwealth is too loose of an entity.
Instead here's an alternative; what about UAE oil ? what about a special relationship with massive influx of petrodollars to "rejenuvate" the United Kingdom ?
(admittedly, the 1971 UAE were not comparable to today's megalomaniac Emirates. Still, they were already exporting oil, the nerve of war).

Let's take the example of the space program. After the Europa fiasco they were no less than seven Blue Streak left (F12 to F18).
It would be fun to have Great Britain continuing his space program indendepently from the rest of Europe - thanks to UAE funding, with a launch pad in Somalia.

What do you think ?

 

[Simon]

Er, how does the what would become UAE covering defence costs on the ground suddenly turn into them funding a British space program? Unless the British government tried to add on a charge above the costs it took to station their forces in the country, which personally I don't think the Emiratis would stand for, you're not going to be making any money out of it. Certainly another example of the absolute bone-headed stupidity of some of Britain's post-war politicians. You have a region that is strategically vital, where you carry out a lot of trade, make a lot of arms sales, and a local country is offering you the chance to station troops there whilst covering the costs of doing so and you turn them down? Madness. Sheer, absolute madness.

 

[Geredis]

I'd say the best way to do this is actually having a much more peaceful Yemen and Oman in this period.

After decolonization started in the region, the Aden Protectorate basically fell apart into a mass of tribal infighting with the British caught in the middle using both British and British-trained federated tribal regulars. I think if somehow Aden doesn't fall apart, or the fighting there isn't so bad...and it doesn't spread via Yemen (thanks to Egyptian support post-Suez for a Yemeni puppet republic led by tribesmen) and then Oman, the British might take a much different approach to the Mideast, including the honouring of those defence treaties with the Gulf States.

That said, I don't see that this UK-Gulf State Special Relationship as inherently leading at all to a space program. There's just too many other changes to UK policy that would have to take place.

Now, maybe a joint UK-Canadian project might be possible with a different post-Europa outlook, but having a truly independent program would be quite difficult I imagine. Moreover, I don't see Somalia, no matter what, as being a likely lunching site. I think that either some island in the southern Bahamas or maybe Bermuda, possibly Jamaica as being more likely to have launch sites. There's more infrastructure on those islands, and probably easier to build up a launch pad there.

That said, I see an independent (or even co-dependent) program like what I just mentioned as being quite unlikely, to say the least.

Though, as a somewhat unrelated matter, how would all this (sort-of) pre-built infrastructure of British bases arriving in the region affect future UAE and regional development? Might they seize the opportunity to try and reach Western parity, or might they get complacent and see no need to modernise to the extent that they have in reality?

 

[Simon]

I don't think it would change things from our timeline too much since Britain was already their guarantor with bases in the countries until they pulled out and were replaced by the US, witness the Fifth Fleet taking over what had been the Royal Navy base HMS Jufair in Bahrain - which they had previously been renting a small section of - and renaming it Naval Support Activity Bahrain. You might get a bit of a slower development if they're paying money to the British to station troops there, although this could well be balanced out if they decide they don't need to spend money expand their own military capabilities to begin with.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

I doubt somalia, too. Otl, there was a launch site in kenya, san marco platform. This was a converted oil platform used to launch scout rockets.