Omen UAV unveiled by EDGE and Anduril

Anduril and the EDGE Group have established a new partnership in the UAE and launched a UAV called Omen, which already has a customer and is built to secure manoeuvre dominance. 

The UAE’s EDGE Group has partnered with Anduril to set up a new company in the Middle East, the EDGE-Anduril Production Alliance. The new company will start out producing a new uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) called Omen, which has been designed for manoeuvre dominance in a variety of scenarios. And that’s not all, a UAE customer is procuring 50 Omen UAVs, kick-starting production at the new entity from 2028.  The companies briefed all of this and more in a call with journalists on November 12th, so let’s take a look at what is happening. 

The EDGE-Anduril Production Alliance is the result of a joint venture (JV) established between the two. “We’re kindred spirits in the fielding of autonomous systems and both parties are keen to invest ahead of need,” Shane Arnott, Anduril’s lead for innovation in the Maneuver Dominance division explained. 

He’s not wrong, Anduril is often held up as an example of a company investing its own funds in anticipation of an emerging need. The Arsenal-1 hyperscale factory in Ohio, which is expected to cost around $1.5 billion, is just one example of this. EDGE has also invested in new production facilities ahead of need, the extensive investment in Abu Dhabi Ship Building is one of the most impactful examples, but the group has also built new offices and production facilities to support its presence in Switzerland and Brazil. Both companies have invested extensively in autonomy and autonomous systems, which is the heart of the JV. 

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“The joint venture will combine EDGE’s regional presence and established trust across the Middle East with Anduril’s expertise in rapid, software-driven development and large-scale production. Together, the two companies aim to deliver the kind of affordable, fieldable mass that modern deterrence requires,” the press release announcing the partnership explains.

However, representatives for both companies were keen to emphasise the tangible outcomes of the JV, it is much more than a simple agreement. They already have a product roadmap set out ahead of them, and EDGE will act as Anduril’s production partner for customers in the Middle East. EDGE will also receive access to Anduril’s Lattice software, which is used for command and control in a range of applications. 

Omen UAV; from concept to product

The UAE will need that access, because the first outcome of the JV is the Omen UAV. “We started working on it in 2019 and flew dozens of sub-scale aircraft, but then we hit a wall with propulsion technology,” Shane explained. Anduril has invested around $850 million in the autonomy stack and Group 3 UAV technology used by the Omen UAV, and EDGE has added $200 million in funding. “The best way to think of the investment in Omen is background and foreground IP,” he went on to explain. This essentially means that most of the technology developed by Anduril prior to the JV will remain with the US company, but anything developed in getting the Omen into service will presumably be shared between them. 

EDGE’s funding will take Omen from a concept to a product and into service. As already mentioned, a UAE user has already finalised the acquisition of 50 Omen UAVs. Shane and his team were unfortunately unable to state which UAE entity was buying the drones, but did reiterate that it is not an inherently military design – the mission systems shape its role, he said. They plan on getting it to full-rate production by the end of 2028. 

So, what does the Omen UAV do, and what makes it different? 

Well, Shane described it as a “tail sitter,” which means it sits on its tail for launch and then transitions to flying horizontally like a regular plane. The V-Bat and X-Bat from Shield AI take this approach, as does the Nomad family from Sikorsky. The reason for this is that it enables a UAV to be runway independent, which is a driving concern for militaries around the world, but specifically the US armed forces operating in the Indo-Pacific. “Our ultimate aim is to provide a Group 3 sized drone with Group 5 capabilities and indo-pacific relevant ranges,” Shane said. 

UAV groupings are quite broad, and there appears to be several standards in use. But it seems that a Group 3 UAV ranges from 25 kg (56 pounds) to 600 kg (1,320 pounds), and Group 4 and Group 5 sizes go from 600 kg (1,320 pounds). The Omen UAV’s specifications were not provided, but Shane explained that it is around three metres tall and that their aim is for it to have 3-5 times the carrying capacity of other Group 3 UAVs. 

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“We have gone at the upper edge of Group 3 for the architecture as there’s a blank spot to give multi-payload capabilities,” Shane said. They expect the Omen UAV to be capable of carrying multiple payloads simultaneously including synthetic aperture radar, electro-optical, and signals intelligence. He also indicated that it could be possible to carry sonobuoys in support of an anti-submarine warfare posture. The architecture for the Omen is scalable, Shane said, indicating that larger platforms could be built in a similar way to Sikorsky’s plans with the Nomad family. 

The initial propulsion challenge was solved with a propulsion system from Archer Aviation. Archer Aviation cut its teeth in developing electric powertrains for civilian air taxis, but has pivoted to hybrid designs and started working with Anduril. The aircraft is primarily driven by electric motors, which power the rotors for vertical takeoff/landing and forward flight. This system leverages Archer’s existing expertise in high-power electric motors and controls, which are also used in their commercial eVTOL aircraft. A combustion engine (like a gas turbine) is integrated as a generator—it does not directly power the propellers. Its sole purpose is to continuously recharge the onboard batteries during flight. This gives the Omen UAV its “Indo-Pacific relevant range,” which may mean a range approaching 1,000 km. 

The key challenge for a tail-sitter aircraft is the differences in requirements between vertical take-off and forward flight. “Helicopters optimise for vertical flight, which is why they struggle with forward flight. Hybrid electric uses the traditional power plant as well as an electric battery system for the vertical lift, and then converts to all electric for forward flight,” Shane said. 

Calibre comment: Getting serious about manoeuvre dominance

It is common for defence to come up with buzzwords – typically a concept that is intuitively understood by listeners, but might lack depth or substance. Manoeuvre is a word that gets used a lot by defence organisations, but it is arguably an important one worth focusing on. The US armed forces would face the challenge of moving most of their combat mass into the Indo-Pacific in the event of a war with China. China knows this and has built weapons and sensors to make it as difficult and dangerous as possible for the US to do that. Yes there are forward bases in Japan, Korea, and Guam, but most sit within missile and air power range, making them vulnerable. 

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To stand a chance of success, the US will have to manoeuvre and all elements of its forces are looking at ways to do this from the marines, to the US Army, and Navy. One way that they can potentially dislocate a Chinese attack would be to deploy forces from unexpected countries and locations, which is one of the driving forces behind the Multi-Domain Task Forces being developed by the Army. Omen fits into this because, as you may have guessed, most US military runways are probably known to China and relatively high on the PLA’s list of priorities. So, deployed UAVs from un-mapped locations could give US forces an edge in gaining information on their adversary. Outside of this scenario, which will hopefully never be tested, it is often beneficial to move away from runway infrastructure if possible, enabling a force to place its centre of mass where it is most useful to have it, rather than where a runway can be built. So, with that in mind, the market for tail-sitters like the Omen UAV, NOMAD family, and X-Bat is one worth watching. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on November 13th, 2025. The lead image is a concept image of the Omen UAV. Credit: Anduril/EDGE Group.