DUBAI: When it was stood up two years ago, the UAE’s EDGE Group had a clear mission – be the central hub for the Emirates attempts at growing a domestic military industry. Given the line of products rolled out at this year’s Dubai Airshow — where the conglomerate launched a range of cutting-edge products to market, and signed many international agreements and partnerships — it’s not hard to imagine UAE leadership is happy with the early returns.
A big part of the company’s plans for expansion involves “collaborating on joint developments and exploring new meanings of cooperation,” according to Faisal Al Bannai, EDGE’s CEO.
“The model we have been adopting is that we are no longer a buyer,” he told Breaking Defense during last month’s airshow. “Yes there will be stuff that we will buy, but our biggest operating model is how to collaborate on joint development.”
Most importantly, “we are not trying to rush a deal for the sake of a deal,” he said. “It needs to make sense and add value to what we are doing, and when it does, we are making these announcements at the right time.”
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At the Dubai Airshow, EDGE signed two agreements with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) – whose presence at the show was unthinkable during the previous Dubai Airshow. The first agreement covers plans to jointly design a first-in-class series of 170 m-USV (modular-unmanned surface vessels) for military and commercial applications.
Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB), an EDGE entity, will design the platform, integrate the control systems and payload, and develop the concept of operations. For its part, IAI will develop the autonomous control system and integrate various mission-payloads to the control system units according to the mission requirements.
The UAE and Israel also signed a MoU to establish a maintenance center for a selection of IAI’s systems in the UAE. In addition to maintenance, the center will advance local marketing of electro-optics advanced systems, including IAI’s Plug-in Optronic Payload systems, Mini-POP and MOSP (Multi-Sensors Optronic Stabilised Payload) surveillance payloads for land, naval and air applications.
The company is also teaming up with the Tunisian Air Force to perform Programmed Depot Maintenance and upgrades on its fleet of C-130 aircraft. The first aircraft was recently delivered by Tunisian personnel to AMMROC’s MRO facility in Al Ain, with work now well underway.
In the Breaking Defense interview, Al Bannai discussed the company’s plan to boost homegrown capabilities and enhance the sustainability and self-sufficiency of the local sector. The following is a translated, edited, and condensed Q&A.
On its 2nd year anniversary, what has EDGE achieved so far?
It is a good milestone to have been at Dubai Airshow to show what we promised to achieve and where we have reached so far. We said we wanted to be a company that is agile, launching products at a much faster pace to our clients. Today, we [have] launched 20 products, while having over 40 products under development. We also said we will focus on three major categories: autonomous, electronic warfare and smart weapons, so just looking at the range of autonomous products that we had at the show proves that. These got developed, prototyped, went through the production stage and are now at the delivery phase. We are also performing dramatic upgrades on our smart weapons category.
Another aspect we discussed when we first launched EDGE was how to grow the local talent. Today, nearly 45% of our engineers are nationals, with the third of them [women]. Around 60% of our [subsidiary] CEOs are nationals. So there is a lot of drive to get the right blend of international talent and growing the local talent.
Do you expect to be involved in the supply chain of the F-35 and/or other components?
First, let the country decide on what they want in that regard. Once they do, whether it was the F-35 or another platform, EDGE will surely get involved in various platforms from a supply chain, sub system, or MRO point of views. We are waiting for our client to make the final decision and then we start engaging with other parties.
Do you believe homegrown capabilities, like EDGE, will see a boost regionally with the US withdrawing?
The way I see it is that there is no point in spending time on things we can’t control. Regardless of what’s happening around us, we are focusing on building sovereign defense capabilities, making key strategic decisions, and becoming a country that is a technology exporter. We clearly said we are an advanced technology company that happens to be in the defense sector, and not the [other] way around.
What is your view on partnering with local and international entities?
The way we look at it is that yes, there will be products that will be bought, but there are others that we are building completely ourselves, with nearly most of them being developed without the need of partnerships. Then there will be selected products to which we are partnering with third party countries or players whether in the form of a JV or partnership. We are driving bigger models of partnerships to build specific product families, then together we can market and export. We will see more product specific partnerships than JVs, because the latter have a more rigid structure.
Where do you see EDGE in 5 years from now?
We definitely want to be seen as a player that has achieved critical building capabilities for the country, making sure to achieve a good segment of that. We also aim to be known at a global scale when it comes to the fields of electronic warfare, autonomous and smart weapons, while focusing on the advanced technology. Therefore, I think that we can definitely carve a good space for ourselves in the next five years and be a noticeable player in the industry while contributing to the export market from a technology point of view.
What about C4ISR? What are EDGE’s plans to boost this capability in the UAE?
[Several] programs are currently in the works. Probably sometime in the beginning of the year, we will witness announcements related to C4ISR in terms of secure networks and communications.
How do you describe EDGE in one word?
EDGE in one word? Let me describe it in [two] words: sense of urgency. Time and speed matter and for us it’s a matter of moving fast because the wolves [clients] are not waiting. EDGE is moving fast and looking to be a leading player in the defense field. We are also open to partner with open-minded players that see an opportunity to doing joint developments. The days that the UAE is only a buyer are gone.