MBDA signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence company SIRBAI on November 3, 2026, at Euronaval in Paris, opening feasibility studies to integrate automatic target recognition (ATR) and swarm flight into the Diamond Shaped loitering munition that MBDA is developing in the United Arab Emirates with French drone designer FLY-R. The Tawazun Council, the UAE’s defense procurement and industrial enablement authority, is backing the effort.
The agreement adds a sovereign software layer to a program that has moved quickly from concept to contract. At the Dubai Airshow in November 2025, MBDA, FLY-R, and the Tawazun Council launched a co-development program, and MBDA announced a dedicated UAE entity. In June 2026, at Eurosatory, MBDA and FLY-R signed a contract to develop, qualify, and prepare mass production of the weapon in the UAE, with MBDA identifying the UAE Navy as the end customer. The program has been reported as one of the industrial commitments attached to the UAE’s December 2021 order for 80 Rafale F4 fighters.
ATR and Swarm Flight for the Diamond Shaped Loitering Munition
Under the MoU, the partners have two years to evaluate and demonstrate how onboard AI can extend the munition’s capabilities. Work centers on two pillars, ATR and swarm flight, and also covers integration of the processing hardware needed to run those functions on the airframe itself.
According to MBDA, the Diamond Shaped weighs 8 kg, offers a range of up to 50 km and 45 minutes of operating time, and remains usable in GNSS-denied environments. It launches from a tube, with wings that unfold automatically, and reaches speeds of up to 270 km/h. MBDA lists a modular payload with an all-purpose warhead, an electronic reversible arming unit, and a last-second mission abort option. Launch options span dismounted infantry, ground vehicles, naval platforms, and helicopters. The warhead type has not been disclosed.
The airframe derives from FLY-R’s R2-120 Raijin and its patented folding rhomboidal wing. FLY-R says the layout roughly halves wingspan and cuts structural mass by a third compared with a conventional design, while allowing slow loiter and a fast terminal dive. MBDA already advertises pre-programmed missions and autonomous terminal guidance against moving targets. ATR would shift target discrimination from the operator to the munition, reducing dependence on a video datalink that adversary electronic warfare will contest. Swarm flight would let several rounds coordinate searches and saturate point defenses, a relevant attribute for a weapon destined for naval use. No figures have been released on swarm size, sensor resolution, onboard compute, or the rules governing human authorization of strikes.
How MBDA Emarat Anchors the Program in Abu Dhabi
The study will run inside the MBDA Emarat structure in Abu Dhabi, where a joint team from MBDA France, SIRBAI, and FLY-R will work together. The Tawazun Council endorsed the arrangement, which MBDA presents as part of a local industrial development strategy.
SIRBAI is a young company. It launched publicly at the UMEX unmanned systems exhibition in Abu Dhabi in January 2026, presenting itself as a software-first developer of swarm intelligence that embeds its algorithms into client platforms. Its founding technology comes from the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the Abu Dhabi government’s applied research center. On January 22, 2026, SIRBAI signed a strategic partnership with EDGE Group to explore integrating its mission intelligence suite, including target recognition and threat assessment functions, across EDGE’s unmanned aircraft.
The MBDA agreement therefore places the same Emirati autonomy stack on both a national champion’s drones and a European prime’s munition. Both partners say they will refine the scope of execution and the development plan, with the aim of formalizing a structural partnership by 2027.
Analysis: The MoU shows Gulf offset expectations moving up the value chain, from local assembly toward ownership of the software that decides what a weapon engages. European primes have traditionally kept targeting algorithms in-house, and accepting a local AI provider inside the kill chain is a concession MBDA appears willing to make for durable access to Emirati orders. If the model works, it gives the UAE Navy a low-cost, locally sustained attritable strike layer and gives MBDA a template it can offer other buyers demanding sovereign content. The risk sits in integration and certification: running ATR on an 8 kg airframe within two years, and qualifying autonomous engagement logic to a standard both French and Emirati authorities accept, is an ambitious schedule for a company less than a year old.
The next markers are a formal development plan and the structural partnership targeted for 2027, followed by demonstrations within the two-year study window, which points to late 2028. Still undisclosed: the value of the work, whether ATR and swarming will be baseline features of the UAE Navy variant or a later increment, and when qualification of the core munition will conclude.