As the UAE accelerates its ambitions to become a global leader in advanced mobility and autonomous logistics, drone delivery operators are facing growing scrutiny around safety, regulation, and public trust. Against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical sensitivity around unmanned aerial systems globally, companies operating in the sector are under pressure to prove that rapid innovation can coexist with strict regulatory oversight and operational reliability.

For Keeta Drone, that balance has become central to its expansion strategy in the UAE. The company, which has completed more than a year of commercial operations in the country, says its approach has been deliberately built around what it describes as a “safety-before-scale” philosophy.

According to Junwei Yang, general manager of Keeta Drone, the company’s regulatory alignment with Dubai authorities has been embedded into operations from the outset rather than treated as a later-stage compliance exercise.

“Safety is where we start; it isn’t something we layer on top of what we build,” Yang said. “From our very first licensed operations in Dubai, we made a deliberate choice to move in complete synergy with the DCAA. That means every route we fly, every community we enter, every new capability we introduce has regulatory alignment right from the beginning.”

The company operates under the framework of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), which has been steadily expanding regulatory pathways for commercial drone operations in the emirate as part of broader smart mobility and urban airspace initiatives.

Yang said some of the most critical regulatory requirements shaping commercial drone deployment include beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) approvals, airspace coordination, approved flight corridors, aircraft certification, remote monitoring systems, and emergency response protocols.

“What the DCAA has built is genuinely world-class. It’s rigorous, yes, but that rigour is exactly what gives operators like us, and the public, confidence that what’s flying overhead is safe.”

Scaling cautiously in complex urban airspace

While much of the global drone delivery industry remains focused on aggressive expansion targets, Yang said Keeta Drone has intentionally prioritised gradual operational scaling.

“It means we don’t add a new route, a new community, or a new use case until we’re certain the safety foundations are in place along with our regulatory authorities,” he said.

“In practice, that looks like extensive simulation testing, expansion of operational zones and continuous testing as an operational non-negotiable. This has helped us scale to close to 900,000 orders across geographies.”

Operating drones in dense urban environments presents additional technical and operational complexity, particularly in cities such as Dubai where airspace is heavily managed and infrastructure density is high.

Yang said the company relies on a “Trajectory-Based Operation System” that dynamically optimises routes in real time while integrating geofencing and remote monitoring layers.

“Our Trajectory-Based Operation System is really the backbone of how we manage this effortlessly,” he said. “Every drone flies a pre-approved, dynamically optimised route which adapts in real time to conditions, airspace activity, and any changes on the ground.”

“Geofencing creates hard boundaries around restricted zones – airports, sensitive infrastructure, populated areas outside approved air space corridors and the drone simply does cross them. Remote Cockpit Monitoring means a human eye is always across the fleet, even as the drones operate autonomously.”

He added: “It’s a layered system, and that’s intentional. It is this system of technology that carries the whole weight of safety.”

Engineering for Gulf climate conditions

The UAE’s climate also creates unique engineering demands for autonomous aerial systems, with high temperatures, humidity, and dust conditions placing significant stress on batteries, propulsion systems, and onboard electronics.

Yang said adapting operations to Gulf conditions became one of the company’s earliest localisation priorities.

“This was one of the most important localisation challenges we adapted to,” he said. “Our drones have been structurally adapted and rigorously tested to withstand extreme desert heat up to 50 degrees, the kind of temperatures that stress components in ways temperate environments simply don’t.”

“We’ve also developed nighttime flight capability, where our drones can fly in the dark.”

The localisation process, however, extended beyond engineering adjustments.

“Localisation is everything, and it goes deeper,” Yang said. “It’s not just about adapting hardware for the climate; it’s about understanding when people order, what they order, how communities are laid out, and how to build genuine relationships with regulators and authorities.” Despite rapid advances in drone technology, public perception remains one of the biggest barriers to mainstream adoption globally, particularly around concerns tied to safety, privacy, and noise.

Read: Delivery services: Keeta Drone inks key MoUs with Dubai Municipality, Sobha Realty

Yang acknowledged that community trust remains essential to long-term adoption and said operational transparency has become a major focus for the company.

“We engage actively with communities before we enter them, and we operate transparently within DCAA-approved frameworks that residents can verify,” he said. “On noise and privacy specifically, our drones follow fixed, approved corridors and are designed to minimise acoustic impact.” He added that public sentiment often changes once residents experience drone delivery directly.

“When someone receives their first drone delivery, watches it arrive on time, quietly and safely, something shifts,” Yang said. “The abstract worry becomes a real interaction, and the reality is almost always more reassuring than the anticipation.”

UAE positions itself as an early drone delivery leader

The UAE has increasingly positioned itself as a testbed for next-generation mobility technologies, including autonomous vehicles, flying taxis, and drone logistics networks.

Yang said long-term mainstream adoption will depend on three major factors: regulatory expansion, ecosystem integration, and operational consistency.

“First, continued regulatory evolution, the DCAA’s ambition to cover 70 per cent of Dubai within five years, is exactly the kind of forward policy that unlocks infrastructure,” he said.

“Second, community integration, partnerships like the one we’ve announced with Sobha Realty are how drone delivery stops being something people read about and starts being something they use.”

“And third, consistency, every safe delivery, every reliable experience, builds the public trust that makes mainstream adoption possible.”

Yang believes the UAE is taking a globally distinctive approach by actively accelerating deployment rather than waiting for international proof points to emerge elsewhere.

“The groundwork is already being laid,” he said. “The UAE isn’t waiting for drone delivery to become normal elsewhere first; it’s deciding to lead and we are here for it.”

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has introduced updated rules regulating the use and transport of portable chargers, commonly known as power banks, on flights operating through the kingdom’s airports.

The new measures, announced in a circular sent to all airlines, are designed to strengthen onboard safety and align with international aviation standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization, according to a report carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

Read more- Gulf travel update: UAE airlines launch new routes as Bahrain enforces Ebola curbs

Under the revised regulations, passengers and cabin crew members are no longer permitted to recharge power banks during flights. Authorities also confirmed that portable chargers must be carried only in hand luggage inside the aircraft cabin and are strictly banned from checked baggage.

Passenger limit set

The authority said travelers will be allowed to carry a maximum of two power banks each while onboard aircraft.

Officials further advised passengers to avoid using portable chargers to power electronic devices during flights, describing the recommendation as an additional safety precaution aimed at reducing potential fire risks linked to lithium battery devices.

The latest directive comes as global aviation authorities continue reviewing battery-related safety procedures on commercial flights.

Gold prices rose more than 1 per cent on Monday, supported by a weaker dollar and easing oil prices, as investors weighed prospects of a breakthrough in US-Iran peace negotiations.

Spot gold was up 1.1 per cent at $4,560.09 per ounce early in the day. US gold futures for June gained 0.9 per cent to $4,562.10.

The dollar weakened, making greenback-priced bullion more affordable for holders of other currencies.

“Trump has been raising market hopes for some sort of deal with Iran, which could lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. That prospect has weighed on oil prices and, by extension, given gold a welcome lift from an inflation perspective,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he had instructed his representatives not to rush into any deal with Iran, as his administration played down expectations of an imminent breakthrough in the three-month-old war.

A day earlier, Trump said Washington and Iran had “largely negotiated” a memorandum of understanding on a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices hit two-week lows on Monday on optimism that the US and Iran were moving closer towards a peace deal even though both countries remained at odds over key issues.

Oil prices influence inflation expectations. Elevated crude can fuel inflation and keep interest rates higher for longer. While gold is seen as an inflation hedge, higher rates tend to weigh on the non-yielding metal.

Kevin Warsh was sworn in as chair of the US Federal Reserve on Friday at a pivotal moment for an American economy, where surging gasoline prices linked to the Iran war fuel inflation and erode consumer sentiment.

Fresh from Make it in the Emirates, the UAE’s flagship industrial showcase, Arcera Life Sciences arrived with a clear message: that pharmaceuticals are no longer peripheral to the country’s manufacturing drive, but a strategic pillar of it. The Abu Dhabi-anchored company used the event to spotlight local drug manufacturing, clinical development, genomics and a new partnership with the Emirates Drug Establishment.

In the days after, we spoke to CEO Isabel Afonso about what Arcera set out to demonstrate and where she sees the sector heading. Operating across more than 60 markets, the company is positioning itself at the intersection of the forces she believes will define life sciences’ next phase: healthcare resilience, the rise of data and genomics, and the challenge of getting innovative medicines to the patients who need them.

What did Arcera showcase at Make it in the Emirates?
Make it in the Emirates was a strong demonstration of how the UAE’s industrial ambitions are being translated into real, practical capabilities, and our participation reflected the strategic role life sciences plays in that national agenda. We illustrated how innovation, strategic partnerships and advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing strengthen healthcare resilience while contributing meaningfully to the country’s long-term industrial and economic priorities.

Arcera today operates as an integrated life sciences platform, spanning access and commercialisation of medicines, business development and scientific capability across more than 60 markets, including 13 in the Middle East. What we were advancing at the event addressed the fundamental building blocks of a strong, locally anchored sector — from ecosystem collaborations and clinical development infrastructure to the use of genomics data, Emirati talent development and scalable local manufacturing.

Taken together, these efforts reflect our ambition to help unlock the full potential of the UAE life sciences sector: strengthening resilience, enabling scale, and creating long-term value for patients and the economy.

What trends do you expect to shape your sector over the coming months?
The next phase of life sciences will be defined by the convergence of science, data, technology and systems thinking, and that shift is already accelerating.

The first major trend is healthcare resilience. Across the GCC, governments are reinforcing it with clear policy direction and tangible investment, and Arcera is actively contributing. Nearly half of our products available in the UAE are already manufactured locally, and our partnership with the Emirates Drug Establishment, announced at Make it in the Emirates, strengthens national talent development, manufacturing capacity and supply security — all of which directly benefit the healthcare system.

The second is the growing role of data and genomics in how medicines are developed and deployed. Precision medicine is moving rapidly from aspiration to practice. The availability of population-scale genomic data, combined with increasingly capable AI tools, is reshaping drug discovery and clinical development. We are exploring opportunities that position us within this intersection, and I expect it to be one of the most defining areas of advancement for the sector in the coming years.

The third is access. Chronic and complex conditions, from neurodegenerative diseases to cardiometabolic disorders and antimicrobial resistance, are growing faster than the global response. Innovation only creates value when it reaches patients, and translating scientific progress into real-world access at scale is central to our mission. It’s where our geographic reach and partnerships allow us to make a meaningful difference.

What is the anticipated growth of the sector?
The life sciences and pharmaceutical sector across the UAE and the wider GCC is expected to remain on a strong upward trajectory, underpinned by sustained government investment, industrial policy and rising healthcare demand.

According to IMARC Group, the GCC pharmaceuticals market was valued at $23.7bn in 2024 and is projected to reach $48.98bn by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 7.6 per cent. Saudi Arabia and the UAE continue to show particular momentum as both accelerate localisation, advanced manufacturing and healthcare innovation.

Importantly, growth is increasingly being measured not only in revenues but in outcomes: how many patients are reached, how many innovative medicines are approved, how resilient supply chains become, and how local talent and manufacturing capabilities are developed. That shift aligns directly with our strengths. With an integrated platform spanning access, commercialisation, business development and manufacturing, we are well-positioned to contribute as the sector evolves.

What are your plans for the next three to five years?
The coming years are about building on a strong foundation and scaling with purpose. Arcera was established with a clear mandate: to build a globally competitive life sciences company anchored in Abu Dhabi, contributing directly to the UAE’s healthcare ambitions while creating global impact. Over the past few years, we have integrated five businesses, built our core platform and established the partnerships that position us for the next phase. Now we are accelerating, around three priorities.

The first is innovation. Our collaboration with Fosun Pharma creates a long-term pipeline, technology development and a deeper focus in neuroscience, positioning Abu Dhabi as a bridge between Asian pharma innovation and global markets. We are also exploring opportunities at the intersection of genomics, clinical development and manufacturing, which will help shape new models of drug development for the region. These are structural partnerships designed to compound value over time.

The second is access. With more than 2,200 products and operations across four continents, scale is one of our strongest strategic elements. Over the next five years, we will keep expanding our pipeline and in-market portfolio, deepening regulatory capabilities and extending our geographic footprint to ensure therapies reach patients where they are needed most.

The third is strengthening local manufacturing and supply capability. More than 40 per cent of our UAE portfolio is already manufactured locally, and we intend to grow that. Our partnership with the Emirates Drug Establishment is central to building manufacturing capacity, developing strategic portfolios and advancing Emiratisation across our workforce.

What measures have you taken to stay resilient in the current environment?
Many of the measures that safeguard Arcera today were put in place well before current pressures emerged. The establishment of Arcera itself — bringing five businesses together under a single platform — was a deliberate resilience decision. From day one, the platform combined complementary capabilities, diverse therapeutic exposure and a geographically distributed operational base, which allows us to respond effectively when individual markets or supply routes face disruption.

We have also been disciplined in managing our portfolio, which spans multiple therapeutic areas, and so reduces dependency on any single category or supply source. Financially, the backing of one of Abu Dhabi’s leading sovereign investment institutions gives us the room to scale. And the partnerships we are building today are designed to extend that resilience over the long term.

Cybercriminals, the thinking goes, save their effort for the big players: the banks, the multinationals, the household names. Uzair Gadit, CEO of Secure.com, argues that this assumption is precisely what leaves smaller retailers exposed. Attackers don’t hunt by size; they hunt by weakness, and for criminals running automated, increasingly AI-powered campaigns, dozens of under-protected SMEs make an easier prize than one well-defended enterprise.

The danger sharpens during peak periods like Ramadan, Eid and the holidays, when transaction volumes spike and digital storefronts expand, and a breach at that moment can mean lost revenue, locked systems and lasting reputational damage.

We spoke to Gadit about why SMEs have become prime targets and what a peak-season attack really costs.

We often hear about major enterprises being targeted, but you’ve said retail SMEs are increasingly vulnerable, especially during peak seasons like Eid and the holidays. Why are smaller retailers becoming prime targets?

Conventional thinking assumes cybercriminals primarily target large enterprises. In reality, attackers go after the easiest opportunities, and increasingly, that means SMEs. Many smaller retailers still believe they are “too small to be noticed,” which often leads to minimal security preparation, even at a basic level. That perception makes them low-hanging targets.

For attackers, it’s a game of volume. Instead of trying to breach a single well-defended enterprise, they can target dozens of SMEs, exploiting weak systems for ransomware, payment fraud or data theft.

The risk becomes even greater during peak seasons like Ramadan and Eid. Transaction volumes surge, online purchases can jump by 46 per cent in fashion and 64 per cent in cosmetics, temporary staff are hired, and digital storefronts expand. SMEs today face the same digital attack surface as large enterprises but lack comparable resources to defend it.

With attackers now using AI to scale their exploits, smaller retailers have never been more exposed.

You’ve mentioned cases where cyberattacks during high-traffic sales periods have pushed some SMEs toward bankruptcy. What does that typically look like in practice: revenue loss, reputational damage, operational shutdown?

According to Mastercard research, 77 per cent of UAE SMEs that experienced a cyberattack had to spend time rebuilding trust with customers and partners, while a quarter ultimately filed for bankruptcy, and 19 per cent were forced to close their businesses. For an SME, a cyberattack during a peak sales period is particularly devastating because these moments often generate a significant share of annual revenue.

The first impact is immediate revenue loss. If an e-commerce platform, payment gateway or inventory system goes offline during a high-traffic period like Eid promotions, even a few hours of downtime can translate into thousands of lost transactions — losses that smaller retailers operating on tight margins may struggle to recover.

Next comes operational disruption. Ransomware can lock retailers out of point-of-sale systems, order management tools or customer databases, effectively halting operations during their busiest days.

Finally, reputational damage compounds the crisis. When customer or payment data is compromised, trust erodes quickly. Customers hesitate to return, partners question reliability, and regulators may require disclosure — turning a short-term incident into a long-term business threat.

Many small retailers simply can’t afford a full-time cybersecurity team. How does your model bridge that gap without pricing them out?

What many SMEs need is operational capacity without the cost of actually building it. That’s the core premise behind our Digital Security Teammates (DST) model.

DST works within a small retailer’s existing infrastructure, with no additional investment required to replace tools already in place. It eliminates the manual triage and alert noise that overwhelms lean IT teams, correlating alerts, enriching context and surfacing what genuinely requires attention.

With DST, a retailer gets a continuously operating digital teammate that amplifies whoever they already have, even if that’s one person covering five roles. By reducing noise and cutting response time, it lowers breach risk without enterprise-level cost.

From your experience, what are the most common misconceptions retail SMEs have about cybersecurity, particularly in fast-growth or seasonal sales periods?

One of the most common is the belief many micro-entrepreneurs hold that their business is too small to be noticed. As I said, attackers don’t look at size, only at weak points, and with automation tools now prevalent, they run their scripts at scale. Small business owners should re-evaluate that position; their size doesn’t make them invisible; it can actually make them easier to exploit.

The second is treating cybersecurity as an IT problem rather than a business-continuity issue. If an attack takes your website or checkout systems offline during an Eid weekend, that’s no longer just technical downtime; it’s lost sales during the most important trading days of the year.

Then there’s the timing trap: “We’ll deal with it after peak season.” But peak season is precisely when exposure is highest. Rapid growth periods, new payment integrations, pop-up storefronts and seasonal staff quietly widen security gaps. It’s always better to prepare before you’re most vulnerable. The UAE Cybersecurity Council has already flagged 128 confirmed incidents in 2026 alone, most linked to financially motivated groups. This is not a future risk; it’s a clear and present danger.

Do you expect cyber threats against retail SMEs to intensify as AI-driven attacks rise, and how should smaller businesses realistically prepare without overextending financially?

Without a doubt. AI is making it easier for attackers to automate phishing, credential stuffing and exploit discovery at a scale and speed that manual defences simply can’t match. The UAE has already recorded AI-powered cyberattacks targeting vital sectors, and the volume of attacks on high-transaction businesses like retail will only increase.

For some, the answer is hiring more experts. The problem is that there aren’t enough people to hire anywhere on the planet, and the cost is counterproductive. The more strategic response is to use AI defensively — for continuous monitoring, context-aware alert prioritisation, clear incident-response plans, and reducing the noise so real threats aren’t missed.

Practical preparation doesn’t require an unlimited budget. It requires the right tools, applied intelligently and matched to the scale and risk profile of the business. SMEs that act now, before the next peak season, will be in a fundamentally stronger position than those who treat this as someone else’s problem.

Read: The end of the password? GCC cybersecurity leaders sound the alarm on identity’s new frontline