EDGE Group has grown rapidly since its launch in 2019, now it is looking to expand into the European defence ecosystem through a new entity – EDGE Europe. The company has ambitious plans and sees the continent as ready for change. Calibre Defence met with Hamad Al Marar, the Managing Director & CEO of EDGE during Eurosatory 2026, to learn more.
By Sam Cranny-Evans, editor of Calibre Defence, published on June 19, 2026.
When EDGE was established in 2019 its leadership was given an explicit mandate to cut through red tape to accelerate innovation and growth. This the company did, expanding rapidly through acquisitions and partnerships, and securing a series of considerable contracts. With that in mind, it is not surprising that the decision to establish EDGE Europe was taken very recently.
“Towards the end of last year, we had reached a scale where we wanted to establish EDGE Europe,” Al Marar told me, taking a moment away from the Eurosatory crowds at the EDGE stand. “Europe is unique, you cannot work on Europe from the outside, and egos aside, Europe wants to see a European EDGE,” he explained, when asked about the driver behind the move.
Al Marar’s comment touches upon something that is frequently understood of European defence but rarely said out loud. It can be difficult for foreign companies to gain access to another market, even if they are European. It is not a universal effect; some countries are more welcoming of foreign companies than others. But there is a clear preference for domestic manufacturers that can block new entrants.
That said, the South Korean companies Hanwha and Hyundai Rotem have made some inroads into Europe. However, it has frequently come with conditions such as the localisation of the technology and production, or at least a maintenance centre.
“We came to be a prime”
A profile photo of Hamad Al Marar, MD and CEO of the EDGE Group. Credit: EDGE Group.
Al Marar was clear that EDGE Europe has ambitious targets. “We came to be a prime, not to be a sub-contractor,” he explained. At the same time, he was realistic about the work involved. “You’re never entitled to exports; you have to work for them.” Exports have been a point of focus for the EDGE Group business development team. When the group was first established, the entities that were collected under the EDGE banner primarily served the domestic market in the UAE. In 2025 the company recorded $3.7 billion in exports, constituting two thirds of its revenue.
To achieve this, EDGE Europe plans to market across the company’s portfolio. Some products, like the HT-100 series of autonomous helicopters from Anavia, are already produced here. As are the THeMIS and Type-X UGVs manufactured by Milrem. But EDGE has a range of products that will be localised. “We need to add that, ‘made in Europe’ tag,” Al Marar said, adding however that “it is a privilege for us to localise some of our technologies.”
Given Europe’s current focus on munitions, both for long-range and tactical strikes, it seems possible that the group’s extensive portfolio and new production capacity in this field will attract interest.
EDGE Europe; a prime’s depth with startup lead times
The rush to rearm following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine revealed bottlenecks across NATO’s defence production lines. Many of the high-end US capabilities that were procured came with years-long delivery timelines, especially for air defence and rocket artillery. Even the comparatively less complex world of armoured fighting vehicles came with lead times of four to five years for most orders.
“Several years doesn’t make sense to us, we understand weeks and months. Defence is a matter of readiness,” Al Marar said. He added that EDGE had produced a 40-metre offshore patrol vessel in four months, referring to the FA-400. The FA-400 keel laying ceremony was held in late-2024, and the ship was then presented at NAVDEX 2025 in February, ready for fit-out.
According to Al Marar, this approach stems from the UAE’s attitude to defence. “We built in the UAE like no wars exist, but when it comes to national security and defence, we assume we are going to be invaded tomorrow, and that shapes our industry.”
The war in Ukraine has certainly injected some urgency into the defence industry, which is sometimes reflected by national governments. But Al Marar offered the opinion that change could be good.
“In some cases, you need a disruptor in the market. Otherwise, things become too relaxed, and you cannot lose your sense of urgency in this industry.” He also explained that this applies to development as well as procurement and production. “In the UAE, we don’t have lengthy decision making because brilliant engineers won’t wait, so we try to always think and act like a startup.”
“Europe did lose some capacity in the last few years, both physical and human. We all know it’s not a safe world. I hope we contribute positively to this mission of restoring capacity,” Al Marar concluded.
Calibre comment: Competition in the defence ecosystem
The EDGE Group has grown significantly since 2019. EDGE Europe will expand the company’s presence into new markets. Credit: EDGE Group
Some economists refer to the defence industry as a bilateral monopoly, which means it is made up of two economic structures:
Monopsony: There is only one buyer, which is the government – or governments. There are, of course 27 governments in Europe that EDGE Europe can do business with, but it is still the case that governments are the only customers for a lot of products.
Oligopoly/Monopoly: There are only a handful of prime contractors capable of executing the work. This is especially true of large capital projects like the production of submarines, ships, and armoured vehicles. They require intensive investment and engineering expertise that is often only possible through a prime.
In theory, the governments hold considerable power to dictate the terms of their contracts. They are, after all, the only customers. But at the same time, it is difficult to walk away to another contractor, which becomes more accurate as an assessment as the technology becomes more complex. There is currently only one NATO prime that produces 5th generation aircraft, for instance. More broadly, the bilateral monopoly construct is defined by the bargaining power between the two sides, rather than market forces.
This oligopoly results in another factor that is routinely held up as a problem in defence procurement, which is vendor lock-in. Once a company has invested hundreds of millions in the tooling and skills needed to produce something large like a ship, they become the most economical option to maintain that platform. As a result, a government may find itself unable to switch suppliers on some requirements, even if others are theoretically available.
What about the start-ups?
Hundreds of start-ups have been launched in the past few years, drawing billions in investment. Some economists argue that this too could create problems as governments will not have enough money to support all of them. Too few companies in a market pool and innovation can stall, too many and profit margins can fall.
So, it follows that EDGE Europe is being setup at an interesting time for the continent and the company. There are clear opportunities in the munitions, uncrewed systems, and autonomy space that are yet to find a collection of primes to support government needs. Given the company’s track record of investing ahead of need and rapid delivery, it could stand to disrupt the ecosystem quite significantly.
Read on:
The lead image shows the Falaj-3 and FA-400 alongside a dock. Credit: EDGE Group.