Many nations commemorate their fallen soldiers, but the U.A.E. has always been different. The glittering towers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi are monuments to an alternative Middle East, standing above the fray, where investors can forget the region's conflicts and make money. If that's now changing, it's largely the work of one man.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of the U.A.E.'s capital Abu Dhabi and the de-facto national leader, controls 6 percent of the world's oil and its second-richest wealth fund. At 54, young for an Arab leader, he's trusted by Washington and feted in Moscow. And he's spent three decades beefing up his small nation's military, making him one of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s best customers.

Sheikh Mohamed has always been security conscious. As a young prince in the air force in 1990, when U.S. troops were massing in the Persian Gulf to fight Saddam Hussein, he drove through the sand dunes to meet an American general for lunch, stashing a rifle under the front seat, just in case he got shot at. Now, to Gulf leaders, the neighborhood looks more dangerous than ever, with Islamic State taking root and Iran rising -- and the crown prince wants his country to have more weapons.