As many artificial intelligence systems developed for defence tend not to leave the lab or exhibitions, there exists a gap between a working prototype and a system that performs under sustained pressure. The past six weeks have made that gap impossible to ignore.
Since Iranian attacks began on February 28, UAE air defences have intercepted 537 ballistic missiles, 26 cruise missiles, and 2,256 UAVs. The systems holding that line were not rushed into service. They were built, matured, and delivered over the years.
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For Chaouki Kasmi, that distinction is the only one that matters.
“You need capabilities that are ready, proven, to support the end user,” the Group Chief Technology Officer of Edge Group and their President of Technology and Industry told Khaleej Times. “There is no test or non-validated technologies in air defence. That’s why the UAE is one of the top in the world today in combat operation proven in air defence.”
As AI becomes central to defence narratives globally, Kasmi’s point cuts through the ‘AI Bubble Noise’. Much of what is presented publicly remains at an early stage, demonstrated but not yet scaled into reliable, field-ready systems.
Defence technologies, he explains, move through defined stages. Systems begin as minimum viable products, demonstrated to end users, then enter a transition phase matured under operational conditions before becoming deployable. For the CTO, the Ukraine conflict accelerated that model globally: early-stage technologies deployed alongside proven systems, tested in real conditions, refined until operationally viable.
“You have the pure development phase, then the transition phase where you are going to the golden unit with deployment for maturation,” Kasmi told Khaleej Times.
Edge has focused on moving through that full lifecycle. Across its portfolio, AI is embedded into systems ranging from drone and missile tracking to radar analytics, cyber defence sensors, and operator training environments, each designed to reduce data overload in command settings and sharpen response accuracy.
“We have integrated AI in our solutions to reduce data overload to users and provide maximum safety functions,” he said.
To consolidate these capabilities, Edge launched the Group AI Accelerator in May 2025, a dedicated Centre of Excellence pulling together specialists across all divisions. The initiative is designed to develop and integrate AI projects across EDGE’s portfolio while also incubating UAE talent in high-technology domains.
“We took all our experts in AI, working towards applied solutions: missile trackers, drone trackers, ISR payload analytics, radar AI solutions,” Kasmi told Khaleej Times. “Mission-specific AI technologies trained on synthetic and real operational data.”
Kasmi declined to confirm specific deployment details, noting its sensitivity. But he affirmed that products that are made to be deployed have been delivered to their end user.
Edge generated $4.9 billion in contracts in 2024, with exports exceeding 53 per cent of revenue, a figure that says much when international clients trust in national systems that have completed the full development arc. Kasmi attributes the broader UAE standing to an ecosystem built for speed: G42, AI71, Presight, TII, and Inception Lab operating in concert, with EDGE as the defence anchor.
“There is a massive innovation power established by the leadership of this country that is seen and recognised internationally,”.
“The UAE is now a competitor in the field of AI generally and is now [being] seen as the next Silicon Valley” he said.
The lesson from the past weeks, he said, is that pace now defines advantage. “We need to continue to train AI faster, to deploy AI models faster. We need to continue to have a very advanced agile development mechanism.”
But most importantly, for Kasmi, the benchmark has never been a matter of demonstration in a briefing room. It is what holds when these systems are called upon.
Source: Khaleej Times