UAE tests SHADOW 25 jet-powered kamikaze drone

Edge Group, the Emirati state-owned defense conglomerate, has released footage of a test of its SHADOW 25 jet-powered loitering munition, a canister-launched one-way attack system.

Edge Group published the test footage alongside a statement describing the system’s rapid deployment capability. “Canister-launched SHADOW 25 moves from standby to airborne in seconds, reducing the logistics footprint and accelerating response when timing matters most,” the company said in its announcement.

The footage provides visual confirmation of the canister launch system and the platform’s jet-powered configuration in an operational test environment, released at a moment when the system’s combat credentials are, according to The Defence Blog’s sources, already established.

Edge Group is the Abu Dhabi-headquartered defense technology conglomerate established in 2019 through the merger of more than 25 Emirati defense entities, operating across munitions, electronic warfare, autonomous systems, and advanced technology domains. ADASI, the autonomous systems subsidiary within the Edge Group structure, is the development arm responsible for the SHADOW 25 program. The system is positioned in the category of jet-powered one-way attack systems that has attracted significant attention since Ukraine demonstrated the operational impact of mass loitering munition employment, and since the Gulf region’s own security environment made long-range precision strike capability a pressing national requirement rather than a procurement aspiration.

The SHADOW 25’s published specifications position it as a medium-class loitering munition with performance characteristics that distinguish it from commercially derived platforms. The platform has a maximum takeoff weight of 103 kilograms, a wingspan of 2.15 meters, and a length of 2.25 meters, according to ADASI’s published datasheet. Cruise speed is listed as 400 kilometers per hour in the company’s datasheet, while the company’s website lists operational speed at 450 kilometers per hour — a discrepancy between the two sources that Edge Group has not publicly clarified, and both figures are attributed here to their respective sources. Range reaches 250 kilometers, datalink range extends to 100 kilometers, and the one-hour endurance figure means the system can loiter over a target area before committing to a strike. The 25-kilogram payload capacity is substantial for a platform of this class, sufficient to cause significant structural damage to hardened above-ground fixed targets.

The canister launch architecture is the operational feature that most directly addresses the tactical requirements of expeditionary strike missions. A canister-stored loitering munition can be positioned, stored, and launched with minimal preparation and a reduced logistics footprint compared to systems requiring assembly, fueling, and a dedicated launch rail. The SHADOW 25 can also be launched from a pneumatic launcher or from a canister with a rocket booster, per ADASI’s published specifications, giving operators flexibility in how the system is deployed depending on available infrastructure and operational timelines. Edge Group’s statement that the system moves “from standby to airborne in seconds” is a direct reference to the tactical value of that architecture for scenarios where response time compresses decision windows.

Guidance combines GNSS navigation with visual navigation and optical guidance, creating a multi-mode terminal package that reduces dependence on satellite navigation alone. In environments where GPS jamming is routine — and the Gulf region has documented extensive Iranian electronic warfare activity along its maritime and coastal approaches — the visual and optical guidance layers provide terminal accuracy even when satellite navigation is degraded or spoofed. The onboard video navigation capability allows the system to navigate and confirm targets using camera imagery rather than coordinate-based guidance, a meaningful operational advantage against targets in electronically contested environments.

Edge Group’s development of the SHADOW 25 as a domestically designed and produced jet-powered loitering munition gives the UAE a platform whose supply chain, operational parameters, and employment doctrine are controlled within the national defense structure rather than subject to foreign export licensing and re-export restrictions. For a country that has demonstrated willingness to employ precision strike assets against targets at significant range, that sovereignty over the means of strike is not a secondary consideration.

The SHADOW 25 has also appeared far from the Gulf. Serbian Armed Forces displayed the system publicly during the “Unity of Strength” military parade in Belgrade on September 20, 2025, confirming that Edge Group has placed its jet-powered loitering munition with at least one European military customer.