Page 31 - ADT FEBRUARY - MARCH 2021 Online Magazine

Off to a "Edge is a good illustration of how the com-
bination of high national demand for military
products and services with a desire to become
less dependent on foreign suppliers is driving
Whirlwind Start the growth of arms companies in the Middle [ ANALYSIS ]
East," Pieter Wezeman, Senior Researcher
with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure
Programme.

The Group currently has over 12,000 employees
working across five core clusters - Platforms
& Systems, Missiles & Weapons, Cyber
Defence, Electronic Warfare & Intelligence,
and Mission Support. Among the companies
and organizations in the group are Emirates
Defence Industries Company (EDIC), Emirates
Advanced Investments Group (EAIG), Tawazun
Holding, drone company ADASI, maritime solu-
tions provider ADSB, Rabdan 8x8 Amphibious
Armoured Fighting Vehicle maker Al Jasoor, Al
Taif, manufacturer of light and medium-weight
wheeled military vehicles NIMR, Earth, Al Tariq,
HISTORY IS MADE AS EDGE FROM THE MIDDLE APT, small arms manufacturer Caracal, pre-
cision-guided missile systems maker Halcon,
EAST ENTERS THE LIST OF MAJOR GLOBAL live-fire training solutions provider Remaya,
ARMS MANUFACTURERS Lahab, Beacon Red, Signal, GAL, AMMROC,
ETS, Knowledge Point, Jaheziya, Horizon, ERS,
Arun Sivasankaran ETS, and EPI.

As far as starts go, it is hard to better this one. Some of the companies have established
In its first year, UAE’s Edge Group waltzed into the list of top 25 their presence in other regions and are look-
global weapon manufacturers in 2019, according to the Stockholm ing at Edge to help grow their global footprint.
International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The group, which Caracal, for instance, has wholly owned sub-
accounted for 1.3 per cent of total arms sales of the top 25, was sidiaries in Germany and the U.S.; the company
22nd on the list that has as many as 12 U.S. companies, including was selected by the Indian Ministry of Defence
the five largest ones. No other arms manufacturer from the Middle in 2018 to supply 93,895 CAR 816 assault rifles
East, a region known to import more weapons than any other, has to the Indian Army. The company has commit-
ever been on the list. ted to fully manufacturing the rifles in-country,
in alignment with the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
The arrival of the group of the world stage is an indication of the The partnership will also include technology
fact that UAE and other countries in the region are working hard to transfer.
wean themselves away from their dependence on foreign suppliers
for weapons. Edge, which had a combined annual revenue of over According to industry analysts, the potential
US$5 billion, is just over a year old, having been established in of growth for Edge is immense as it is yet to
November 2019 after more than 25 companies and organizations focus much on the international market. The
came together for a common purpose. growth so far has been fueled mainly by the
local demand for weapons in the region.

“Within the group, we are working on a coherent
roadmap to accelerate product development
and build human capacity,” says Faisal Al
Bannai, CEO of Edge Group. “We have obtained
the approval of the relevant authorities in the
UAE for the development strategy that we will
adopt for the next 3-5 years. We are a major
player locally, but we are working to obtain our
share of the international market, either through
our local products or the products we work on
with our partners.”

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