Click to see full-size image. (Edge Group/Screengrab)
The United Arab Emirate’s Edge Group shared on May 13 video footage showing a live-fire test of its Shadow 25 loitering munition amid rising tensions with Iran.
On its website, the leading Emirate technology and defense conglomerate describes the Shadow 25 as a “a jet-powered, rapid-strike loitering munition capable of delivering a precision strike against fixed targets.”
The Shadow 25, which features a basic design with delta wings, has an endurance of around an hour, a range of over 250 kilometers, and can reach a top speed of 450 kilometers per hour. It carries a warhead weighing 25 kg.
The loitering munition utilizes a GPS-aided inertial navigation system, in addition to an optical navigation system for operations in areas with electronic interference. It can be also optically guided in the terminal phase with the help of a data-link with a range of 100 kilometers.
The footage shared by Edge Group shows the Shadow being launched from a canister with the assistance of a rocket motor, before hitting its target with high precision.
The Shadow 25 was first unveiled in 2021, and later in 2023, Edge Group received an order for the loitering munition and its larger version, the Shadow 50, for AED 1.33 billion, that’s over $360 millions.
The pusher-propelled Shadow 50 has very much the same range, but with an endurance of around nine hours, and a speed of 167 kilometers per hour. It carries a warhead weighing exactly double of that of the Shadow 25, and utilizes the same guidance systems. It is also canister-launched.
The latest test by Edge Group came amid heightened tensions between the UAE and Iran, despite the ceasefire between the latter and the United States. After clashing with the U.S. Navy earlier in the month, the Islamic Republic renewed strikes on the Gulf state, causing both material damage and casualties. Abu Dhabi warned that it could respond.
Reports revealing an Israeli military deployment in the UAE and an Emirate attack on Iran, in addition to the announcement of a secret wartime visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Abu Dhabi made things worse, with Tehran issuing several serious threats.
The UAE may have authorized the publication of the Shadow 25 live-fire test footage as some sort of a warning to the Islamic Republic.
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“leading emirate technology” oh really? anyway are they any literate? you guys and evil entity talking much shit but you’re nothing but a punks.