New Era of Bilateral Cooperation

EDGE and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) agreed an MoU on 11 March to develop an advanced counter-UAS (C-UAS) system tailored to the UAE market, with wider ranging benefits for the Middle East/North Africa region and beyond. Leveraging IAI’s proven C-UAS solutions used to detect, identify, classify, and intercept a broad range of threats, EDGE will deploy its specialist EW subsidiary, SIGN4L, to build the tailored C-UAS Solution.

Combining IAI and SIGN4L products, the solution will consist of detection and identification systems (radar and optics, RF), soft-kill solutions (jamming, cyber take over) and hard-kill capability (guns, missiles, electromagnetic and laser), as well as an advanced C2 facility. The C-UAS is fully autonomous requiring zero or limited human intervention. A series of countermeasures will be offered, ranging from jamming to drone destruction, based on the level of threat and intended operating environment.

Both SIGN4L and IAI will leverage their technical capabilities to jointly develop the system in response to specific customer needs. Further support will be available via IAI’s partnership with Belgium Advanced Technology Systems, which has a local technical and marketing presence in the region.

“In line with the recent Abraham Accords and the UAE’s newly established cooperation and spirit of collaboration with Israel, EDGE and IAI are joining forces to deal with this growing threat,” commented HE Faisal Al Bannai, EDGE CEO and Managing Director. “[UAS] today are a preferred solution in building agility and resilience to the emerging challenges of asymmetric warfare. As EDGE invests extensively in autonomous capabilities, our co-development of a counter-UAS in partnership with Israel Aerospace Industries will only help strengthen our advanced technology portfolio, and partnerships in the region and internationally.”

IAI President and CEO of IAI, Boaz Levy, added “We believe that this collaboration will help both companies through the transfer of knowledge and sharing of capabilities. This MoU serves as a stepping-stone for further business and strategic alliances between our countries, and will enhance cooperation for R&D and technological innovation.”