On the evening of 28 February, we were camping in the desert as a family not far from Al Minhad Air Base when Patriot missiles began launching into the night sky to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles overhead.
I’ll be completely honest; until that moment I did not know if the UAE had the hardware and knowhow to defend against this sort of attack, let alone the waves of projectiles it has since weathered.
The country was extremely well prepared.
I’ve lived in Dubai for a decade, built my career here, and raised three children; all born in Dubai. You think you know a place. But the last few months revealed another side to this city and its people; a toughness and depth that, at first glance, is not obvious to outsiders.
I had first visited Dubai in August 2008 on holiday; snow skiing indoors while it was 45 degrees outside was on my “must do” list of activities. The whole place felt stranger than fiction.
A few years later, after 11 years serving in the British military, I moved here for work. I arrived sceptical, but curious enough to want to understand how the city actually functioned. What changed my mind was seeing how Dubai truly works behind the clean streets, low crime, and glitz.
Through my work, I’ve seen the city both flying high and under existential pressure. I’ve supported global giants like Tesla, and homegrown champions like Huspy, grow and thrive because they managed to unlock the opportunities Dubai has to offer. I’ve also seen people come and go; and then come back. We call them the ‘Dubai boomerangs’. Apparently it’s hard to leave this place.
Dubai’s economy is not a mirage. It was built first on trade through Jebel Ali Port and DP World, which now operates more than 60 ports and terminals globally. Aviation through Dubai Airport and Emirates transformed the city into a global hub, while DIFC emerged as one of the world’s leading financial centres underpinned by English law.
As one government minister once told me, the role of government is to provide fertile soil for the private sector to grow. Dubai has spent decades building a marketplace designed to attract global talent, capital, and operators, supported by clear, pro-business regulation and long-term planning.
The popular image of Dubai is often deeply misleading. A few thousand influencers do not represent a city where the overwhelming majority of expats are hard-working professionals; doctors, nurses, engineers, builders, and entrepreneurs who have built their lives alongside our Emirati hosts. Many of us feel we have a genuine stake in what has been built here over decades.
Leadership is unusually visible too. I’ve seen the Ruler of Dubai and the Crown Prince on multiple occasions in ordinary settings. In their lifetime; and it takes a lifetime; its leadership has built an extraordinarily liveable city that simply works, with a proposition durable enough not only to survive global shocks such as the 2008 financial crisis and COVID, but to thrive off the back of them.
The response from UAE leadership throughout the Iran conflict has been measured and decisive. School holidays were brought forward a week and the airport, despite a brief period of grounded flights, remained operational throughout, and so people never felt trapped. Visible leadership, effective warning systems, and sensible control of misinformation meant Emiratis and expats alike largely stayed calm and simply got on with business.
Two weeks into March we were in the Sailing Club watching Ireland vs Scotland in the Six Nations; 15 kilometres south over the port were aerial interceptions. No one flinched.
There’s no denying the seriousness of what has occurred, but equally remarkable is how life here has gone on and a lot of that is down to trust.
Initial media reporting painted a deeply misleading picture of Dubai; one of panic and mass departure. Certainly, many have returned home helped in part by clear communication by authorities and assistance provided to government-run airlines. But even now, two months later, we know only one family within our wider friendship group that has sold their furniture and left.
Right at the start of the conflict, walking into work on Monday morning, I was nervous that my clients would pause their Dubai expansion plans. Brilliantly, not a single one fell off. Every one of them still had faith and remained committed to the UAE market.
My business spans sectors from finance and construction through to AI, food security, and defence technology. Some sectors, particularly tourism, hospitality, and real estate, will undoubtedly feel pain in the short term. But what I am already seeing is renewed focus and investment in national security and sovereign capability.
The UAE will no doubt invest even more heavily in securing its skies and sea, further strengthen food security efforts, shore up trade and supply routes, and further protect energy infrastructure. It will continue to provide the fertile soil.
People say that Dubai will go back to how it was. I don’t think it will; and to be honest, I think that what is to come is a city better than it was, a new version of Dubai; its defences tested, more resilient, a stronger community, better respected, but still ambitious, fun, and open to the world.
