"We will commit its portfolio, its engineers and its industrial presence in Brazil," EDGE Managing Director and CEO Hamad Al Marar said, describing the company's pledge following a Letter of Intent signed in Abu Dhabi on 13 October 2026.
The Letter of Intent: scope and lineage
EDGE Group announced on 13 October 2026 that it signed a Letter of Intent in Abu Dhabi with the UAE Ministry of Defence, the Brazilian Army (represented by its General Staff) and Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil (IMBEL). The agreement is intended to guide future joint initiatives across military, operational, industrial, technological, commercial and governmental activity.
The document explicitly builds on earlier frameworks: the 2014 Brazil–UAE Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Defence and the 2019 agreement covering the exchange and mutual protection of classified information and materials. The Letter of Intent provides direction for talks on Brazilian Army solutions that align with the Force Transformation 40 process and aims to strengthen Brazil's Defence Industrial Base.
Defined roles: UAE Ministry of Defence, the Brazilian Army, IMBEL, and EDGE
- The UAE Ministry of Defence will supply the governmental and bilateral dimension to the work.
- The Brazilian Army will set out operational requirements and modernization priorities.
- IMBEL will contribute sovereign Brazilian defence industrial capability.
- EDGE will bring its integrated portfolio, systems expertise and industrial presence in Brazil.
The release notes that the parties now intend to carry conversations forward into specific solution discussions; EDGE described the next objective as translating their shared ambition into "concrete programmes of work."
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The Letter of Intent extends EDGE's existing presence in Brazil, which the company has developed largely through local acquisitions and partnerships. On 4 September 2026, EDGE completed the acquisition of São José dos Campos–based aerospace engineering company AKAER. According to EDGE's announcement, SIATT took a minority stake in AKAER to maintain the company's Empresa Estratégica de Defesa status.
AKAER, established in 1992, is already collaborating with EDGE on unmanned systems development and industrialization and has "accumulated more than 10 million engineering hours across military and commercial aerospace programs," the release said. EDGE also holds a 50% stake in SIATT, a Brazilian specialist in smart weapons.
Technical and program history: MANSUP, anti‑drone work and secure communications
EDGE and SIATT have a recorded program history in Brazil. In September 2024, EDGE and SIATT entered a strategic partnership with the Brazilian Navy to complete the National Anti‑Ship Missile (MANSUP)'s development; that partnership built on a letter of intent valued at about US$164 million. In November 2025, EDGE and the Brazilian Navy moved a jointly developed anti‑drone system into its next phase, with delivery of the first capability package planned for 2026.
IMBEL previously worked within the EDGE ecosystem on communications: IMBEL integrated its radios into a secure communications system offered by EDGE and SIATT to CENSIPAM, Brazil's Amazon Protection System agency. That system combined EDGE's KATIM X3M secure smartphone, SIATT's SATCOM link and command‑and‑control software.
The announcement also noted near‑term international activity: several days before the Abu Dhabi signing, EDGE signed a drone weapons contract and a local production memorandum of understanding with Morocco at the Marrakech Air Show, calling for DESERT STING 16 and THUNDER P‑31 integration across the Royal Moroccan Air Force's unmanned combat aircraft fleet. Separately, SIATT and Safran outlined a path for strategic defence cooperation in Brazil in September 2026.
What this means for the Brazilian Army, IMBEL, and EDGE
- Brazilian Army — The Letter of Intent positions the Army, via its General Staff, to define operational requirements and modernization priorities tied to the Force Transformation 40 process; its next step will be detailed discussions on "Brazilian Army solutions" with the other parties.
- IMBEL — The agreement formalizes IMBEL's role as the sovereign domestic industrial contributor, building on its earlier systems‑integration work (notably radios for the Amazon Protection System) and positioning the firm to participate in further industrialization efforts.
- EDGE — EDGE has committed engineers, portfolio items and industrial presence in Brazil and will seek to translate the agreement into "concrete programmes of work"; however, the release leaves systems, quantities, values and a timeline unspecified, signalling that program-level decisions remain to be negotiated.
The parties have defined a framework and a division of labour; the immediate task ahead is procedural and programmatic: move from intent to specification. Discussions on specific solutions for the Brazilian Army are the next formal step, while EDGE's recent acquisitions and partnerships give it industrial pathways to deliver if those requirements are agreed. What remains open in plain terms are the systems to be selected, the scale and the schedule — points the Letter of Intent sets up but does not resolve.
