Inside the UAE defense giant rapidly scaling up amid West Asia war
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Inside the UAE defense giant rapidly scaling up amid West Asia war")
Acting chief executive officer of 'HALCON EDGE Group', an Emirati advanced technology and defence conglomerate Photograph: (Credit: AFP)
As the West Asia conflict drives global demand for military arms, a major UAE defence company is rapidly expanding its footprint worldwide.
The six-month US-Iran conflict has created a major commercial windfall for state-owned defence conglomerate EDGE Group. While nearly 3,000 missiles and drones targeted the UAE during the conflict, testing its status as a safe haven, the experience has provided practical validation for the country's domestic arms industry.
"Before the war, we only had a handful of products that we could say were battle proven. After the war, we can say a lot of products are now battle proven," Khaled Al Zaabi, president of EDGE's platforms and systems cluster, told new agency AFP from the company's Abu Dhabi headquarters. Zaabi cited the "battle-proven" label as an absolute selling point driving increased global demand.
Founded in 2019, EDGE employs 19,000 people across drones, missiles, armored vehicles, and naval vessels. At Tawazun Industrial Park, subsidiary EPI is expanding with a 5,600-square-meter facility dedicated to producing micro-jet engines for autonomous military systems.
While the UAE spent over $8 billion on advanced US air systems like Patriots and THAAD, officials highlighted cost-efficient countermeasures. Zaabi noted that low-cost drones can counter threats like Shahed kamikaze drones, while chairman Faisal Al Bannai stated locally produced jammers achieved an 85 percent interception rate against incoming drones.
International exports accounted for 70 percent of EDGE's $5 billion in revenue last year. The group established its European headquarters in Paris in June to target Western and NATO markets amid rising European defense spending, planning French facilities for engine and drone production alongside investments in Brazil.
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Allegations by Amnesty International indicated EDGE armored vehicles equipped with French weapons were utilized by Sudanese paramilitaries. EDGE denied selling weapons used in Sudan, and the UAE denied supporting paramilitary forces.
Industry analysts note EDGE's strategic shift toward localising air defense systems like the SkyKnight short-range system, positioning the firm to advance toward its objective of becoming a top 10 global defense contractor.
