"brings real engineering depth to EDGE." — Hamad Al Marar, EDGE Group’s Managing Director and CEO
EDGE Group agreement announced on 16 July 2026
EDGE Group announced on 16 July 2026 that it had reached an agreement to acquire a 100 percent stake in Akaer, a Brazilian aerospace and engineering company based in São José dos Campos. EDGE said the transaction remains subject to customary conditions precedent and regulatory approval. The Abu Dhabi-based group, established in 2019 by Faisal Al Bannai, comprises more than 25 companies spanning military and civilian products across the defence, space, and cyber domains.
Akaer’s engineering footprint and program history
Akaer was founded in 1992 and, according to the company summary shared by EDGE, has more than 30 years of experience across aerospace and defence. The firm has logged over 10 million engineering hours on programmes for global manufacturers and works across integrated product development, systems integration, and platform modernization. Its portfolio stretches from fighters and trainers to commercial airframes and naval and space projects: Saab’s Gripen NG fighter; Turkish Aerospace’s Hürjet trainer; Embraer’s Super Tucano, ERJ‑E1, ERJ‑E2, Legacy 450/500 and KC‑390 programmes; Boeing’s 747‑8; Calidus’s B‑250; and the Brazilian Air Force’s P‑3 Orion fleet. Akaer’s subsidiary Opto produces precision optics for Earth‑observation satellites.
How EDGE frames the strategic value of Akaer
EDGE said the acquisition provides an established engineering base in Brazil that spans the full product lifecycle from conceptual design through industrialization. In EDGE’s announcement, the deal was described as strengthening its ability to secure industrialization timelines on key unmanned aerial vehicle programmes and extending EDGE’s capabilities into optronics, electro‑optic and infrared systems, and space‑related technologies. Hamad Al Marar described Akaer as “a highly specialized team with three decades of experience delivering complex aerospace programmes,” and said EDGE’s priority was “continuity, for Akaer’s people, its programs and its customers, while building the foundation for long‑term growth.”
EDGE’s existing footprint in São José dos Campos and previous ties with Akaer
EDGE has been building a presence in Brazil for several years. The group acquired a 50 percent stake in SIATT, a smart‑weapons specialist, in September 2023 and later that year took full ownership of the Swiss unmanned‑helicopter maker ANAVIA. In 2025 EDGE expanded SIATT’s production footprint with a new 6,000 square metre headquarters and production facility in São José dos Campos. EDGE and Akaer had already been cooperating: the two organisations signed a memorandum of understanding at LAAD 2023 in Rio de Janeiro on 14 April 2023, signed by Akaer chief executive Cesar Silva and EDGE Vice President for Strategic Programs Ahmed Hasan Alkhoori. That memorandum set out cooperation on high‑technology systems, with early work examining missile seeker systems, laser fuzing and guidance kits for 70 mm rockets, and special‑mission aircraft. With Akaer, EDGE consolidates its Brazilian holdings — SIATT’s missiles and Akaer’s engineering — around a single city, positioning São José dos Campos as the centre for its regional programmes.
What this means for Akaer’s employees, EDGE’s UAV programmes, and São José dos Campos
- Akaer’s employees and customers: EDGE said Akaer will continue to operate from Brazil with local governance in place and emphasized continuity for “Akaer’s people, its programs and its customers.” That framing signals a commitment to local operations and to maintaining existing programmes while EDGE moves to integrate industrialization capabilities.
- EDGE’s unmanned aerial vehicle programmes and optronics ambitions: EDGE has presented the acquisition as a way to strengthen industrialization timelines for key unmanned systems and to extend capabilities into optronics, electro‑optics, infrared systems and space technologies — areas that align with Akaer’s engineering and Opto’s precision‑optics work for Earth‑observation satellites.
- São José dos Campos and the Brazilian aerospace cluster: By clustering SIATT, Akaer and EDGE’s other assets in São José dos Campos — already home to major programmes cited by Akaer — EDGE is positioning the city as a hub for its programmes in the region, consolidating engineering and production in a single aerospace ecosystem.
The acquisition is positioned as both an industrial consolidation and a capability play: EDGE gains engineering depth and a route to industrialisation in Brazil, while Akaer obtains the backing of a larger group as it moves from engineering services toward greater involvement in series industrialisation work. The transaction still faces customary preconditions and regulatory review; if completed, the immediate visible changes will be continuity of local operations in Brazil and a tighter operational link between EDGE’s missile and unmanned systems work and Akaer’s engineering and optoelectronics skills.
