Edge Group’s prominent position in the Dubai Airshow’s exhibition hall not only reflects the company’s importance to the UAE’s export base but highlights its commitment to localization as part of the “Make in the Emirates” initiative. Established to integrate a combination of activities under one corporate umbrella, Abu Dhabi-based Edge now maintains a corporate footprint on five continents, among which its export sales account for some 35 percent of its revenues.
According to Edge Group international business director Miles Chambers, although the UAE still accounts for the company’s biggest market, it maintains competitive advantages internationally thanks to three key areas of emphasis. “One is autonomous systems,” said Chambers. “A second is smart munitions. And an important third is electronic warfare.”
In autonomous systems, Edge has participated in the market for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for years, designing and producing small tactical QX series, loitering munitions, and UAVs for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions.
One of the larger UAV designs, named Reach-S, can perform both combat and ISR missions. According to Edge representatives, the vehicle’s endurance extends up to 24 hours and allows for integration with a satellite communications system.
The UAVs presented by Edge “are of local design and manufacture,” continued Chambers, “and the intellectual property is all UAE origin and ownership.”
Chambers also discussed how Edge has also worked with local firms in other, non-aerospace industries to develop applications that can make use of its expertise in autonomous systems technology. For example, the company has developed unmanned surface vehicles (USV) in cooperation with a shipbuilding firm in Abu Dhabi.
USVs have featured prominently in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and carried out strikes against ships in Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet. Another high-profile attack by Ukrainian-made USVs saw the platforms employed in an August 2023 attack on the $4 billion Kerch Straits bridge, built to connect the occupied Crimea peninsula with the Russian mainland.
Precision Strike and Electronic Attack
Edge also offers a variety of precision-guided munition kits with a range of seeker heads. The seekers can carry either a GPS-based or an infrared imaging guidance system, providing a high-accuracy/low circular error probability solution at ranges of 30 to 120 kilometers.
Another of Edge Group’s divisions, Halcon, goes beyond bomb kits and designs and builds complete precision-guided weapon systems. One of the examples—the SkyKnight air defense missile system—employs mission launcher units that can launch five projectiles in one second.
A SkyKnight naval missile launcher design and prototype appeared on display two years ago at the 2021 Dubai Airshow. Development of the system had begun only slightly more than a year before, in August 2020, setting an almost record design timeline for the complexity involved in a naval air defense system. Edge has cooperated with Germany’s Rheinmetall in the development of SkyKnight missiles that feature in the German company’s Skynex air defense system.
For short- and medium-range ground units, Edge also offers the Hunter series of canister-munition drones. Chambers and company specialists explained that the UAVs can be hand-launched, containerized, or integrated into small tactical vehicles. They deliver a 76 mm, 2 kg blast fragmentation warhead that contains some 780 fragments effective against soft and lightly armored targets.
The development of convoy jammers that defeat the signals transmitted to detonate improvised explosive devices and other types of roadside bombs represents another area of application in the region, Edge specialists told AIN. The system, called V-Protect, operates in the 20 to 6000 MHz frequency bands and produces a 2:1 jamming ratio with the total output power of the system exceeding 1000 watts.
Edge also is active in the rapidly expanding counter-UAV market. Produced by the group’s Abu Dhabi-based SIGN4L business unit, one of the lead products, the D-Protect RF jamming system, can counter UAV defense. It features a ruggedized design built for outdoor environments and can jam control and GNSS (global navigation satellite system) signals to neutralize hostile UAVs. Operators can use the hardware in conjunction with other electronic defense concepts to create what the company calls a “layered defense” configuration.
Looking outside of the Middle East, Chambers revealed that Edge wants to expand its customer base in Southeast Asia, where customers seek affordable solutions and minimal export control concerns, a common barrier to the acquisition of systems of U.S. and European origin.