At the International Defence Exhibition and Conference on Wednesday, the UAE’s largest defence company, EDGE, and the Indian aerospace company Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (IDEX).
The MOU is signed to look into ways to work together, such as designing and making missile systems and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) together (drones).
Both companies will also look into ways to use HAL’s small gas turbine engines on EDGE’s guided weapons, EDGE’s GPS jamming and spoofing equipment on HAL’s platforms, and ways to share more information.
The two companies will also talk about how they can work together on mission computers, training programmes, and using additive manufacturing to make metal parts at EDGE and HAL’s world-class facilities in the UAE and India.
The MOU was signed by Dubai’s EDGE and India’s HAL at INDEX, which is said to be one of the largest tri-service defence exhibitions in the world.
From 20 to 24 February, IDEX-2023 will be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Sunjay Sudhir, the Indian ambassador to the UAE, went to IDEX, the UAE’s biggest defence show, yesterday.
At the ongoing defence show, other companies have also signed contracts. For example, ICOMM, a group company of Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL), signed an agreement with UAE-based EDGE entity CARACAL for the first-ever Transfer of Technology (ToT) in defence articles.
Under the “Make in India” and “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” programmes, ICOMM will make all of CARACAL’s small arms in India for the Indian market.
This week, Reuters said that UAE signed defence deals at IDEX on February 21 worth $2.22 billion, or 8.14 billion dirhams.
The biggest deal went to EDGE, which had a book value of about $5 billion last year. It was a 4.7 billion dirham contract for its subsidiary Halcon to supply Desert Sting P5 systems to the Tawazun Council.
ADASI, which is also a part of EDGE, sold its Shadow system for 1.33 billion dirhams.
EDGE has customers in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
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