UMEX 2024: Edge announces large UAE order for armed UGVs

The tracked RCV ordered by the UAE Armed Forces is likely to be Milrem's Type-X. (Janes/Sonny Butterworth)

The United Arab Emirates' (UAE's) Edge Group announced on 24 January during the Unmanned Systems Exhibition and Conference (UMEX) 2024 show held in Abu Dhabi that the UAE Ministry of Defence had placed an order for unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) made by its Milrem Robotics subsidiary.

Edge said in a statement that the contract covers 20 tracked robotic combat vehicles (RCVs) that it did not identify and 40 THeMIS UGVs. It added that the RCVs will be armed with 30 mm Mk44 cannons, the combat variants of the THeMIS UGVs will have 30 mm M230LF cannons and indirect-fire systems, and the surveillance and reconnaissance THeMIS variants will have radars, cameras, and shot detectors.

Milrem will also provide training for the UGVs and lead an experimentation and trial programme to integrate them into the UAE Armed Forces.

Edge did not give a value for the contract but said this represents the world's largest combat robotics programme.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), it said the UGVs that will be delivered under the initial order will undergo trials, with a larger order following after those have been successfully completed.