Blending Knowledge, Expertise On Next-Gen AAVs

Anduril Industries and EDGE Group, two defense companies developing autonomous systems, have formed a Production Alliance intended to accelerate the design, development, and production of advanced autonomous systems for both civil and defense missions in the Middle East and beyond.

EDGE is based in Abu Dhabi while Anduril’s headquarters and R&D facilities are based in Costa Mesa, California, with offices and manufacturing in Ohio, Seattle, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Sydney, Australia.

Although some details of the arrangement are still being finalized, the parties in the joint venture confirmed it will be based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where they will co-develop disruptive autonomous systems in a 50,000 SF research, development, and virtual simulations center.

The first project of the collaboration will be Omen, a newly developed drone that operates as a hover-to-cruise vehicle and was designed to “pack the endurance, payload, and mission flexibility of much larger systems into a novel runway-independent group 3 airframe,” according to a statement release by the companies.

With the production and development set to take place in the country, the UAE has already committed to the purchase of the first 50 Omen systems.

Omen will be capable of long-range, autonomous airpower for distributed and expeditionary operations. Anduril’s Lattice for Mission Autonomy software will enable multiple aircraft to conduct coordinated flight paths, share sensor data, and adapt their behavior in real time. This advanced capability allows smaller expeditionary units to execute missions typically limited to much larger systems.

The lightweight, foldable frame of Omen allows a two-person team to transport, assemble and launch the aircraft within minutes without the need for any specialized infrastructure. The vehicle is capable of supporting a range of missions including maritime surveillance, logistics resupply, air defense sensing, and communications relay.

Faisal Al Bannai, Chairman of EDGE Group commented, “Our strategic partnership with Anduril opens new pathways for EDGE to harness some of the most advanced autonomous systems engineering in the world. Embedding that capability in the UAE fundamentally accelerates how we innovate, build and field next-generation systems.”

Trae Stephens, Co-Founder and Executive Chair of Anduril said, “Defense innovation is measured not by ideas, but by the pace at which those ideas translate into capability. With EDGE, we’re aligning the means of production with the urgency of modern deterrence.”

FMI:  www.anduril.com/ , edgegroupuae.com/