EDGE Group’s plans to meet India’s defence needs and help foster indigenous growth: Hamad Al Marar, EDGE Group and its President – Missiles & Weapons

Based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), EDGE is an advanced technology group that develops disruptive solutions for defence and beyond. The company is dedicated to solving real world challenges, and bringing innovative technologies and services to market with greater speed and efficiency.

For the company, India is a strategic growth market and for the first time it is participating at the DefExpo where it is going to display a broad portfolio of around 30 cutting-edge defense industry solutions and products. These are provided by three of its entities –AL TARIQ, HALCON, and CARACAL, covering a wide range of weapons and military systems including Precision Guided Systems, Small Arms, and Precision Guided Munitions.

EDGE Group and its President – Missiles & Weapons – Mr Hamad Al Marar in an exclusive interaction with Huma Siddiqui talks about India-focused strategy and providing solutions tailored to the Indian market.

Following are excerpts

How EDGE will promote its advanced capabilities, and to reinforce our ‘For India’ mission in support of the overall ‘Make in India’ strategy’

EDGE Group will be showcasing HALCONs Desert Sting and Thunder precision-guided munitions (PGM) families, AL TARIQ’s scaled down versions of its family of PGMs,and CARACAL’s family of assault rifles, sniper rifles, submachine guns, and pistols at DefExpo. These are capabilities with a strong focus on providing solutions tailored to the Indian Market, and within the overall ‘Make in India’ framework. Through these three entities which are exhibiting at DefExpo, and their advanced portfolios, EDGE Group seeks to support this India-focused strategy with solutions, software, systems, and beyond, and to bring them to market with the speed and agility for which we have become renowned.

Building relationships for export of the EDGE group products in India

The UAE and India already enjoy extremely strong bilateral trade relations, with UAE being India’s second largest export destination with exports valued at approximately USD 29 billion in 2019-20. Both countries share similar interests in regional security. Relationship building for export of EDGE Group products to India relies on these strong bilateral trade relations, allowing us to provide advanced capabilities for current and future armed forces, law enforcement, and security personnel.

EDGE Group’s plans for Indian market

EDGE Group’s plan for the Indian market is to meet India’s defence needs and to help foster indigenous growth. We are focused on collaborating with all types of businesses from across the private and public sector – and on developing more meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships. Partnering for knowledge-sharing, joint ventures, and joint collaboration on exports are critical areas of focus for us, as we aim to grow our footprint on international exports, as well as through building local capabilities in defence through partnerships here in India.

Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the UAE and India – How EDGE group is strengthening ties between both countries

The recently signed CEPA agreement is testament to the UAE and India’s determination to expand on this relationship and to seek and leverage mutually beneficial opportunities both in the military and civilian spheres.  The ground is fertile for future development in the areas of R&D, advanced technology, and to focus on core growth areas.  For a mature market such as India, our priorities are on the following domains: autonomous capabilities, smart weapons, small arms and precision guided munitions, and electronic warfare. We recognise that we can’t produce everything ourselves, and therefore have to have strategic international partnerships to support us where both sides can benefit. CEPA will create the perfect environment for this, not only in the UAE, but in India as part of the ‘Make in India’ strategy as previously mentioned. This is fundamental to our objectives as for us, India will continue to be a valuable partner well into the future.

When EDGE was launched a few years ago the focus was on AI, Disruptive technology, Electronic Warfare, Drones etc. Is EDGE interested in working with the Indian Private Sector in these fields and if yes, will it by investing in R&D or just manufacturing?

EDGE is an advanced technology group for defence and beyond, investing extensively in advanced technologies such as autonomous capabilities, directed energy, cyber-physical systems, advanced propulsion systems, robotics and smart materials, and artificial intelligence.

We converge commercial market innovations with military capabilities, to be at the forefront of cutting-edge technologies – delivering products and services at speed, with a growing global export footprint.

We remain open for cooperation and collaboration with the best defence contractors in the world, and have clearly defined areas of defence technology focus. We are interested in collaborating with world leaders in those areas should they be prepared to do so – and where it makes business sense for all parties.

As you mention, EDGE also places a priority on R&D investment, as well as emerging technologies, and intellectual property (IP) localisation to encourage innovation.

In addition to a focus on autonomous capabilities, for which we are fast becoming an established and respected name, we are also growing our loitering munitions capabilities.

How big is the defence industry in the UAE and how can India and UAE work together in building the industry there?

The UAE has a consolidated sovereign defence capability and is a leading regional defence supplier with partners and customers around the world. The UAE is estimated to have spent USD 19.8 billion on defence in 2020, 5.6 percent of GDP, making it the region’s second-largest spender. EDGE has been ranked as the 23^rd largest defence contractor in the world by SIPRI, with EDGE being the only Middle East based company in the top 25. For a company launched just over two years ago, this is a tremendous achievement, and we are proud to be leading the way in the development of advanced technologies for a more secure future in our region and further afield.

As previously mentioned, we are focused on collaboration across multiple spheres, and EDGE will place significant effort and resources to seek valuable partnerships with Indian defence companies with clear paths in the advanced technology sector.