EDGE's Abu Dhabi Ship Building Explores Fitting Engines From Italy's CMD to Its Vessels

CMD designs and develops advanced propulsion systems. The agreement comes shortly after EDGE took a controlling stake in the company in October 2026. When it announced that deal, the group said it planned to look at using CMD's high-performance engines in marine applications together with Abu Dhabi Ship Building, WAM reported. The new memorandum puts that plan on a formal footing between the two subsidiaries.

The document was signed at the Paris office of EDGE Europe by David Massey, chief executive of Abu Dhabi Ship Building, and Giorgio Negri, co-founder and chief commercial officer of CMD. WAM did not report any financial terms, a timetable, or which vessel classes might receive the engines.

An In-House Supply Chain

Abu Dhabi Ship Building designs, builds, maintains and converts naval and commercial vessels, and is one of the region's leading yards in that business. WAM said that it and CMD both belong to an integrated defence manufacturing network that EDGE has built so it can deliver capabilities quickly and at scale. That network now runs from the UAE into Europe, where EDGE Europe is adding industrial capacity, investing in talent and developing technology over the long term.

The deal is one of several naval steps EDGE has announced this week. Earlier on Wednesday the group launched the second corvette for the Angolan Navy at the Abu Dhabi Ship Building yard, the first vessel of its class built in the UAE. On Tuesday EDGE Europe and Italy's Novamarine agreed to explore autonomous naval drones.

Why It Matters

An engine supplier inside the group would give EDGE more control over a part of the vessel that yards usually buy from outside, which could cut its reliance on third-party vendors for naval and commercial ships. This fits the UAE's wider effort to build a domestic defence industry that can export. For now the agreement covers only exploration of the idea, and the companies have not committed to integrating the engines.