Eurosatory 2026: Iran’s attacks on UAE have “accelerated” Edge’s plans, says company

The UAE, like many Gulf nations, was seen as a safe and stable country until attacks on Iran by Israel and the US in February this year saw the former respond with strikes on UAE and neighbouring nations.

A UAE Ministry of Defence report on 8 April, issued shortly before attacks subsided, noted that the country had engaged 537 ballistic missiles, 26 cruise missiles and 2,256 uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs). UAE forces engaged 17 ballistic missiles and 35 UAVs on that day alone.

Edge Group, a UAE company formed only seven years ago, now has 12,000 employees and 25 subsidiaries while reporting US$5 billion in revenues in 2024. It was created to support the emirate’s industries and forces but also the nation’s gross domestic product.

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Speaking to Shephard at Eurosatory earlier this month, Edge Group president of platforms and systems Khaled Al Zaabi highlighted these objectives while outlining plans for growth and partnerships.

“When the war started, it really was a ‘do or die’ situation for action,” Al Zaabi said.

“This galvanised us to accelerate, to double down, to move fast, to actually really quickly learn about what is actually important and what is not important.

“This was the time to really prove [our capability] and we came out the other side. Our chairman mentioned in one of his speeches that 80% of the [UAVs] that were taken down were using Edge equipment such as jammers and other solutions.”

Edge already has a physical presence in Europe after purchasing Estonia’s Milrem Robotics, Swiss company Anavia and Poland’s Flaris, alongside the planned acquisition of Italian engine company CMD (Costruzioni Motori Diesel).

Edge Europe established in Paris and Bordeaux

In the past 12 months, the company has signed agreements with Leonardo, Indra Group, Safran, Allison Transmission, Hanwha Aerospace, L3Harris, Anduril Industries and Baykar and has now established a European headquarters in Paris, France.

One of Edge’s agreements with Baykar will see the latter integrate the Desert Sting 16 precision-guided munition onto the Turkish company’s TB2 UAV, with payload integrations on other Baykar platforms to follow.

Within another agreement, Edge and Anduril established the Edge-Anduril Production Alliance which has developed and is manufacturing Omen, a hover-to-cruise UAV.

Under Edge Europe, announced in early June, there will be a headquarters in Paris which will be supported by an engineering and manufacturing hub in Bordeaux, south-west France.

The Bordeaux hub is seen as key by the company as the region is an epicentre of propulsion, composites and avionics, and is home to several universities and research institutions providing access to specialist engineering talent.

Al Zaabi explained to Shephard: “Part of our growth is to expand beyond the borders of the UAE and to have a presence in France as a genuine European company serving European interests. After many years of acquiring different assets, we thought it’s the right time for us to do this.

“[In terms of propulsion] we decided almost three years ago to turn to engine manufacture, an area seen by some as having the least value; some see it as easier to develop and produce airframes and aircraft than it is to develop engines.

“Now we have an advantage where we are also original equipment manufacturer of our [UAVs], so we create our own demand of engines and generally provide aero-engines through our company Powertech which was launched in February 2025.”