Made In The UAE: The Shadow 25

SHADOW 25 is a loitering munition system made in the UAE. It provides defence forces with jet-powered, high-precision strike capabilities against fixed targets over extended ranges. The one-way attack platform, in service with the UAE Armed Forces, is manufactured by the local EDGE Group.

SHADOW 25 was unveiled on 21 February 2021, the opening day of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) 2021, as part of the first UAE-made family of smart loitering munitions. It was a moment that then-CEO of EDGE, Faisal Al Bannai, described as “a significant milestone as a key technology enabler” for the UAE’s autonomous and AI-integrated capabilities. 

The system was designed to close a gap in rapid, mobile precision-strike removing the need for separate storage, transport and launch infrastructure. By combining storage and transport functions in one solution and launch functions in another mobile solution, SHADOW 25 allows forces to deploy quickly, greatly enhancing operational flexibility and battlefield readiness. That ambition was reinforced in 2023, when EDGE was awarded an AED1.33 billion ($360 million) contract to supply SHADOW 25 and SHADOW 50 systems to the UAE Armed Forces.

SHADOW 25 can carry a payload of up to 25kg and is fitted with onboard video navigation, allowing it to fly and engage accurately in jamming or environments where global navigation satellite system signals are denied, where satellite signals cannot be relied upon. It can launch from a trailer-mounted canister using a rocket booster or a pneumatic catapult. The pneumatic catapult launch capability has been proven for some time, and the platform is now completing canister-launched, rocket-assisted take-off (RATO) testing, extending its deployment options further. It has a maximum range of 295km, a data link range of 100km and a ceiling altitude of 6,100m. It has a cruise speed of 450km/h and endurance of one hour.

As a domestically designed and manufactured platform, SHADOW 25 reflects the UAE’s increasing sovereign capability,
which is being shaped by present-day operational requirements.

SHADOW 25 sits within a growing UAE-made family of autonomous strike platforms: SHADOW 50, built for longer missions with nine hours of endurance and payloads up to 50kg, and SHADOW 3, a portable vertical take-off drone offering dual-mission flexibility as either a counter-UAV interceptor or a guided-strike munition.