Garmousha, a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone that resembles a helicopter, was designed by Adasi, a subsidiary of Edge, in a deal with the General Headquarters of the UAE Armed Forces.

"We are launching today one of our anchor products as Edge," Faisal Al Bannai, Edge chief executive and managing director, told The National.

The unmanned aircraft is designed to carry payloads of up to 100 kilograms with a range of six hours of flight time and 150 kilometres. The helicopter aims to provide flexibility, allowing militaries to save manned helicopters for critical missions, according to the company. The Garmousha drone can also be used to detect gas pipeline leaks, to survey infrastructure and for search and rescue operations.

Drones are pilotless aircraft that use emerging technologies like computer vision and artificial intelligence to operate and perform tasks specified by humans. But drones can also be ground or sea vehicles that operate autonomously.

Global military spending on drones is expected to reach $98 billion in the next decade, according to a recent report from the Teal Group, an aerospace and defence market analysis firm.

The UAE is aiming to be a leader in the fields of artificial intelligence and developing applications for unmanned systems. The technology is being used across land, sea and air, for the purposes of gathering "media, monitoring, traffic regulation, urban and remote area security and forest fires”, Mohammed Al Bowardi, Minister of State for Defence Affairs, said in his opening address at Umex on Sunday.