UAE’s Edge chases European defence spending surge

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Abu Dhabi defence company Edge is expanding deeper into Europe as governments across the world embark on their biggest military spending increase in decades.

Edge expects international business to account for a growing share of its portfolio, as rising military outlays drive demand for counter-drone and critical infrastructure protection technology.

More than 2,200 drones were launched towards the UAE during the Iran war,
according to official updates — most of which were shot down. Edge says its technology was responsible for about 85 percent of drone interceptions and is seeking to turn its experience countering these attacks into export growth.

“We were able to take out a significant volume of drones with counter-drone technology and jamming relatively cost-effectively. This resulted in increased demand and interest in these capabilities from many of our international customers,” Miles Chambers, senior vice president for international business at Edge, told AGBI.

Edge is active in 91 countries, attracting $8 billion in orders last year, of which international business represented 70 percent.

European nations have historically invested less than 1 percent of their GDP in defence, according to Chambers. Nato countries in Europe have typically now achieved the organisation’s 2 percent target but are being pressured towards 5 percent.

“In Europe, we’ve seen a rapid increase in expenditure as countries look to bolster defence needs in what was largely relatively underfunded… for many years,” Chambers said.

Edge earlier this year announced the opening of a Paris office, which will
act as its European headquarters.

Rather than operating simply as an export office, Edge has registered the business as a European company and is pursuing local manufacturing, acquisitions and joint ventures, positioning itself as part of Europe’s defence industrial base.

International expansion

It also continues to expand across Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia, investing heavily in acquisitions – most recently a 100 percent stake in Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Akaer.

“International business is increasingly becoming a larger percentage of Edge’s overall business portfolio,” Chambers said.

Global military expenditure reached a new peak of nearly $3 trillion in 2025, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Chambers expects that figure will keep climbing against a backdrop of more than 65 active state-based conflicts worldwide.

“That’s going to require countries to revisit what they’ve invested in [terms of] defence capability to make sure they are ready to counter [threats]. Countries are particularly looking to make significant investments in critical infrastructure protection,” he said.

During the war, some estimates suggested the UAE spent $1 billion a day intercepting Iranian drones that cost as little as $20,000 to $50,000. Chambers declined to reveal the costs incurred by Edge, but said: “There is a cost of protection, but there is a much higher cost in the event that you don’t address the incoming threat.”

Repair costs for energy-linked infrastructure as a result of the war could hit $58 billion, according to Rystad Energy. The total for oil and gas facilities alone could reach $50 billion.

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With more than 3 million square metres of manufacturing space in the UAE, Edge is central to Abu Dhabi’s broader ambition of shifting the country from a defence buyer to an exporter.

Even so, the company concedes it cannot achieve full sovereignty or 100 percent autonomy over the UAE’s defence needs.

US companies are expanding production in the Emirates, while Abu Dhabi has pursued closer defence-industrial ties with countries including India and South Korea.

Florida-based company Powerus has said it is manufacturing drone interceptors inside the UAE, producing about 30 units a day with plans to scale up to 100 a day.

The UAE is in early-stage talks to acquire India’s BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, according to reports, and the Akashteer automated air-defence system, building on a UAE-India framework signed in May to deepen defence-industrial collaboration and technology-sharing.

Separately, Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala is reportedly weighing an investment in a fund seeking control of South Korean defence supplier MNC Solution – a possible follow-on to the $35 billion UAE-South Korea defence pact signed earlier this year, which carries a pipeline of up to $65 billion in joint projects.

The country is also adding new launchers for the THAAD high-altitude system under a $211 million contract modification with Lockheed Martin, according to the US Department of War.