The assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in a massive bomb blast in Beirut Monday was the latest incident compounding security concerns in the Gulf. Saudi Arabia has been rocked by a wave of violence attributed to Al-Qaeda and Kuwait recently witnessed a series of deadly gunbattles between security forces and suspected Islamist extremists.

"I think everybody for the last three years (in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States), has been focusing on terrorism defense equipment," UAE military procurement chief Brigadier Obaid al-Ketbi told reporters on the third day of IDEX 2005.

"I think we'll focus more in the coming years on (counter-terrorism). It's a serious problem. We saw what happened in Lebanon yesterday. We hope it will not happen again but we have to act globally to counter such activities," he said.

Ketbi said the UAE had concluded contracts worth 3.08 billion dirhamsmillion dollars) since the seventh edition of the international defense exhibition opened in the Emirati capital Sunday.

The biggest order announced Tuesday was for eight AB139 Italian-made helicopters worth 83.7 million dollars.

Ketbi said Bell Agusta Aerospace Co. won the deal in the face of competition from France's Eurocopter, which had offered its EC155.

The helicopters, manufactured in Italy under a joint venture between US firm Bell and Italian arms maker Augusta, will have a multi-role function in the Emirati armed forces, said Ketbi, spokesman for IDEX 2005.

The UAE also signed a 48-million-dollar contract with Switzerland's Inovex Simulation and Training Ltd for the modernization of the training system of some army units, a deal for which France's Thales had also been vying, Ketbi said.

He said Abu Dhabi on Tuesday finalized deals totaling 717 million dirhams (195.3 million dollars) with foreign and local companies, including a 15-million-dollar contract with Italian firm Elettronica SPA for the supply of electronic equipment.

German companies have so far walked away with the two biggest deals announced at the five-day show, in which more than 900 exhibitors from 50 countries are taking part.

Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH on Monday clinched a 209-million-dollar deal to supply NBC Fox (ABC Fuchs in German) armored reconnaissance vehicles to the

On Sunday, Rohde and Schwarz GmbH clinched a contract to upgrade the Emirati army's communications system at a cost of 144 million dollars.

But Ketbi said he could not comment on reports that Abu Dhabi was interested in purchasing German tanks and submarines.

The German business newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Monday that the UAE wants to buy hundreds of German tanks and a number of submarines.

Citing government and industry sources, the newspaper said the sale was likely to be rubber-stamped shortly by the German government, which has already agreed on forming a "strategic partnership" with the UAE.

"I have no details on such a contract," Ketbi said.

US arms makers have so far failed to secure any big contracts similar to the ones won by European counterparts at the arms fair, which ends Thursday.

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