US technology company Anduril is launching a joint venture with Abu Dhabi-based defence house EDGE to develop and manufacture a range of uncrewed air platforms in the United Arab Emirates, the first of which will be a vertical take-off and landing, Class 3-category ‘tail-sitter’ called Omen.
The partnership – the EDGE Anduril Production Alliance – has secured a contract for 50 Omens from an undisclosed UAE customer, with a target to reach scale production by the end of 2028.
The joint venture will produce Omens and future products that the companies will develop together for the local market, including customers in the region, while any US orders will be fulfilled from Anduril’s Arsenal-1 facility in Ohio.
Shane Arnott, Anduril’s senior vice-president of programmes and engineering, describes the Omen as a “Class 3 UAV [less than 600kg maximum take-off weight] that takes off like a helicopter and flies like an airplane”, and can carry payloads “three to five times those of traditional Class three” platforms.
Its tail-sitter design makes it “truly runway independent” and suitable for maritime patrol and “other complex missions”, including in the civil arena where it could host an airborne cell tower to restore connectivity after natural disasters or coordinate disaster relief, he says.
Arnott says the Californian-headquartered firm has been working on the design since 2019 and has flown “dozens” of scale prototypes as well as a full-scale demonstrator.
EDGE says it is investing $200 million in the programme, on top of $850 million spent by Anduril on the system’s mission autonomy technology.
Arnott describes EDGE and Anduril as “kindred spirits” with a knack for “fielding products, and particularly autonomous systems at speed”. He says the company had considered other partners in the region, “but we chose the UAE”.
In addition to the joint venture’s production and sustainment site, Anduril is creating its own presence in the UAE with a 4,600sq m (50,000sq ft) research and virtual simulation centre to develop future programmes. It is its first presence outside Australia, the UK and the USA.
EDGE chairman Faisal Al Bannai says the partnership with Anduril “opens new pathways for EDGE to harness some of the most advanced autonomous systems engineering in the world”, adding: “Embedding that capability in the UAE fundamentally accelerates how we innovate, build and field next-generation systems.”
