The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) EDGE Group builds its defence supply chain by acquiring controlling stakes in foreign companies and leaving them to operate in place.
The group holds 13 international acquisitions and strategic investments alongside 23 joint ventures (JV), integrates their outputs at the corporate level, and performs weapons integration and final assembly in the UAE through subsidiaries such as Halcon and ADASI.
This differs from the standard route to a defence industry, i.e., indigenization, under which a state pulls design, production, and suppliers inside its own borders over several decades.
EDGE treats ownership – rather than location – as the basis of control.
How EDGE Group Buys Control — From Estonia to Brazil
EDGE is acquiring companies at nearly every tier of the supply chain.
In Europe, it holds a majority stake in Estonia’s Milrem Robotics (unmanned ground vehicles), 52% of Switzerland’s ANAVIA (autonomous helicopters), and 50% of Poland’s FLARIS (light jet platforms).
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