Edge Group CEO Reflects On Lessons Of War

PARIS—The war in Iran that has drawn in the wider Gulf region has also become somewhat of a testing ground for Edge Group, with the United Arab Emirates state-owned defense conglomerate now looking to accelerate some efforts but also rethinking some relationships.

“In times like this you actually come to realize who’s really your ally and who was there commercially,” Hamad Al Marar, Edge Group managing director, said in an interview during the Eurosatory arms expo here.

While he would not identify what partners may have fallen short, he suggested some relationships could be reassessed following the experience. That may mean trying to source technology elsewhere because the existing supplier did not prove reliable.

The conflict has tested the company, but Al Marar said it was largely able to work through the fighting that saw Iran fire thousands of drones and hundreds of missiles at locations in the UAE in retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli strikes on its country. The country began the war with ample stocks of supplies to keep production going, he noted, though in some instances it had to use costly airlift to bring in vital items to avoid disruptions.

In one case equipment was needed from another country, and by working with partners in that country it was able to see that arrive within a few hours, he said. Having the Port of Fujairah that is not as directly exposed to Iran also proved a valuable logistics point.

Al Marar said Edge surged production of some weapons and also saw a change in mindset from the customer. As a state-owned business, Edge has long had close ties to its home customer to define weapons. But with the fighting the customer’s focus shifted to fielding items quickly, rather than looking for the perfect solution. For Edge, the focus shifted to starting serial production of various items and then fix them.

“The whole thing changed,” Al Marar said. The company also benefited from having staff that also serve in the military, providing fast feedback loops, he added.

Edge also gained experience from Ukrainian providers that delivered systems to the UAE armed forces. While Edge was not directly involved, Edge had the chance to learn lessons from the use of those systems.

The company is also looking to lean on its growing relationship with South Korean industry to meet some of the UAE’s needs, while also leveraging the ties for export potential. Edge, for instance, might sell the Skynight short-range air defense system to Seoul, while looking to use South Korean systems to build out the UAE’s longer-range air and missile defense capabilities through systems such as the medium-range KM-SAM and longer-range L-SAM.

Al Marar said the war also highlighted another need, the ability to take out targets before they are in UAE airspace. The emotional toll the frequent missile and drone attack alerts have had on family and the country’s wider population highlighted the need to keep threats at bay even earlier.

Iranian missile attacks also showed Al Marar that air defense technology needs to change. The high cost of missiles designed to defeat the most advanced incoming missiles limits the number that can be produced and stockpiled.

“The problem is the threats are produced in larger volumes than you can ever produce air defense missiles,” Al Marar said.

“We need to rethink the air defense solutions,” he added. “We need layered defenses. You need soft kills, hard kills, lasers and [electro-]magnetics.”