From drones to remote-guided missiles, the UAE, one of the largest arms buyers in the world, is developing the military industry locally to reduce its dependence on expensive exports, in an area that often suffers from crises.

Two years ago, the Abu Dhabi-based Edge Group was formed to lead these efforts and now includes 25 Emirates arms manufacturers, marking the "maturity of our defense industry," one of the group's five leaders, Khaled al-Buraiqi, told AFP.

The company "EDGE" has climbed rapidly and last year became one of the 25 largest arms manufacturers in the world, with revenues of more than $5 billion, according to the International Peace Research Institute SIPRI in Stockholm.

The group employs 13,000 people "from all over the world" but is working to recruit more emirates, mainly through agreements with universities in the rich country or abroad.

The UAE, which is rich in oil, like its neighbors Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is among the largest arms importers in the world and seeks to diversify its economy.

Cooperation with Israel

The signing of the normalization agreement with Israel last year opened up new opportunities for the group to get closer to the military manufacturers there, who were present in droves for the first time at the Dubai Air Show.

"We are negotiating with them and signing contracts. We are acting in accordance with our government policy," al-Bureiki said.

In this context, the Israeli giant Elbit Systems, which operates in the field of armaments and designs unmanned aerial vehicles, announced on Sunday the establishment of a subsidiary in the United Arab Emirates, with the main aim of "transferring technologies to local partners."

Edge, which has secured nearly two dozen export contracts for services or ammunition, hopes to establish itself in the international market.