299 reports
The acquisition, development and production of drones and unmanned systems by Gulf and MENA militaries, covering armed and surveillance UAVs, loyal wingman and collaborative combat aircraft, unmanned surface and underwater vehicles, and local manufacturing partnerships.
Wartime demand has made unmanned systems one of the fastest-growing segments of GCC defense procurement, and the region is shifting from buying platforms to producing and integrating them.
This intelligence cluster tracks every active drone and Loyal Wingman file: the UAE's local production of Powerus Guardian interceptors, under way by mid-October 2026, and the EDGE-Leonardo military-AI joint venture; SAMI's negotiations on a Shield AI V-BAT purchase and Hivemind autonomy software, alongside Shield AI X-BAT engagements with Riyadh and Doha; Saudi assessments of Ukrainian first-person-view interceptor drones, Aramco's fast-tracked interceptor-drone procurement and Riyadh's interest in the Akinci-compatible Roketsan UAV-300 missile; MQ-9B SkyGuardian and Collaborative Combat Aircraft talks with General Atomics, including the Qatari MQ-9B order raised with US Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael DiMino on 21 September; the UAE-China UAV sovereignty program; Egypt's WJ-700 evaluation with CASIC; the Anduril-Schiebel interoperability evaluation; unmanned maritime systems under the EDGE-DAPA framework, ADSB-PTDI USV cooperation and Barzan-Exail underwater systems talks; and Rheinmetall LUNA UAV localization in Egypt.
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