The UAE and the United States have launched their first bilateral military artificial intelligence task force, Task Force Talon Synapse, in Abu Dhabi, formalising a defence technology relationship that began with unmanned vessel experiments in the Arabian Gulf three years earlier.
The UAE Embassy in Washington confirmed the launch on 29 August. US Central Command had announced the agreement to establish the unit on 28 July, describing it at the time as scheduled to formally launch in the coming weeks.
The task force brings together around 20 Emirati and American specialists in AI, data and cybersecurity. Its stated focus covers AI applications for intelligence support, protecting critical infrastructure and monitoring the regional security environment. Centcom has not publicly detailed the specific AI systems the unit will develop or deploy.
How the UAE-US military AI task force grew from a single exercise
The institutional roots go back to September 2021, when Admiral Brad Cooper, now commander of Central Command, established Task Force 59 in Bahrain while leading US Naval Forces Central Command and the US Fifth Fleet. It was the first US Navy task force built specifically to integrate unmanned systems and AI into maritime operations.
The UAE joined that experiment in February 2023. Over the course of a week-long exercise conducted in the Arabian Gulf and concluded on 20 February 2023, five unmanned surface vessels operated jointly by the UAE Navy and Task Force 59 used cameras and sensors to collect imagery of nearby vessels. The vessels included an L3 Harris Arabian Fox MAST-13, an Ocean Aero Triton and two Saildrone Explorers.
Data from those platforms was transmitted ashore, where AI systems helped detect, identify and classify what the sensors were seeing. US Naval Forces Central Command described it as the first bilateral unmanned systems and AI integration exercise between the two countries.
‘This exercise allowed us to further train our artificial intelligence platforms to sort through new data sets,’ Task Force 59 exercise planner Lt Jay Faylo said at the time. The US Navy noted that Task Force 59 operates unmanned systems from hubs in Bahrain and Aqaba, Jordan.
Talon Synapse moves beyond that single exercise by creating a permanent, Abu Dhabi-based joint team rather than a time-limited bilateral test.
Broader agreements underpinning the task force
The launch follows a sequence of bilateral agreements. In May 2025, the UAE and the US signed a letter of intent establishing a Major Defense Partnership covering military cooperation, joint capability development and interoperability. Days later, the US Defense Innovation Unit and the Tawazun Council signed a separate memorandum focused on defence technology, including access to laboratories and testing facilities.
On 10 July 2026, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security eased export controls on the UAE, moving the country into US export-control group A:5. The change expands access for approved Emirati entities to certain military, space, dual-use and advanced computing technologies.
Centcom has not set a public timetable for Talon Synapse’s first operational deliverables, leaving the scope of the unit’s initial work to be defined as it stands up in Abu Dhabi.
