In an interview with Defense Arabia on the sidelines of SOFEX Jordan, Harry Dawson, Director of International Business for the Middle East and Africa at EDGE Group, discussed the company’s focus areas, its talks with Jordanian industry, and the performance of its systems in the UAE.
Defense Arabia: What does EDGE bring to SOFEX Jordan this year, and what are the key highlights?
Harry Dawson: SOFEX has been around since 1996 and is a long-standing exhibition, one that we take very seriously. The partnership between the two nations at the highest level is extremely strong. From that political relationship flows the military relationship, and then an industrial relationship.
Our focus here is not just precision-guided munitions, which is a key focus, but also our platforms across maritime, land, and air, such as our UAVs, naval vessels, and armored vehicle fleet. Our key focus is really electronic warfare, autonomy, and smart weaponry. We see great opportunity in Jordan in collaborating with local industry, not just JODDB, but others as well.
Is EDGE open to local partnerships, joint ventures, and transfer of technology to Jordan?
Harry Dawson: Very much so, and it is an ongoing conversation that we have been in for some time now. The King had the foresight to put together the foundations back in 1999, which evolved into JODDB. JODDB is an organization that we are in deep discussions with currently around co-production, co-development, knowledge transfer, and technology transfer, but also around how complementary supply chains can work together.
The industry in Jordan is well known, particularly from an agriculture and industry standpoint. The crossover with the UAE in the baseline of that OEM capability, as well as the knowledge-based aspects of those economies, is very complementary. We are exploring it now, and we are actively looking at partnerships with JODDB in particular at the moment.
Which of the systems EDGE is displaying is Jordan interested in?
Harry Dawson: We have had several successful contracts signed with Jordan for the supply of traditional defense equipment. I will not go into the details, or cannot go into them, but we have supplied several key capabilities to Jordan from EDGE and the UAE. Some are for the Special Forces, some are for the Land Forces, and some have been for Air Defense capabilities.
What are EDGE’s main priorities for the next two years in the Middle East?
Harry Dawson: Very similar to Jordan. Being the stalwarts in the region in an uncertain time and a very complex security environment, it is really important that countries like Jordan and the UAE remain steadfast in their humanitarian, moral, and economic strength. Over the next few years, we see working closely with allied partners like Jordan and other Arab nations to ensure self-reliance at the nation-state level, and also collaboratively.
Precision guidance kits: how do EDGE’s systems upgrade existing munitions?
Harry Dawson: What EDGE does very well is precision guidance kits that complement the standard Mark 80 family of bombs. We essentially take a dumb bomb and make it smart. If you have the Mark 80 family in your inventory, such as the Mark 82, 81, 83, or 84, we can leverage that inventory to give it significantly extended range and accuracy with our kits. This is done either via Al Tariq or what we call Thunder, which is a family of shorter-range precision guidance kits that go with the Mark 80 family bombs.
What can you tell us about the new penetrator EDGE has introduced?
Harry Dawson: From an international market standpoint, I cannot talk about that at the moment. That is something we are doing with the UAE at the moment, and then we will launch from there.
Have EDGE systems been used to defend UAE territory?
Harry Dawson: Significantly, yes. Particularly over the earlier part of this year, which is not news to anyone, several announcements went out about the percentage of interdictions, meaning the attacks that were defended against using EDGE-based equipment, from both a soft-kill and a hard-kill perspective. We have our jamming and spoofing electronic warfare suite.
Are these systems, such as NavControl and SkyShield, combat-tested?
Harry Dawson: Very much so. The resilience and performance of that equipment in the UAE was heralded as a significant milestone. The systems had, fortuitously, already been rolled out. There was a significant ramping up of our loitering munition capability, such as Shadow, in light of recent events. From a counter-drone and electronic warfare perspective, SkyShield and NavControl, to name two products, were used in recent times to great effect.
Are these systems deployed elsewhere in the MENA region?
Harry Dawson: Yes. It is not only the UAE that those systems are deployed in. They are deployed in other nations as well and are working effectively. I cannot confirm exactly which system.
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