IN Brief:
- LAHAB’s automated 40×53mm ammunition line reached full-rate operation after entering service in late 2025.
- The three-module line has stated capacity of up to 1.5 million finished belted rounds annually, not a confirmed shipment volume.
- EDGE reports nearly 60% lower manual labour requirements and real-time monitoring of module status and production throughput.
EDGE Group has reached full-rate production at LAHAB’s automated line for 40×53mm grenade ammunition in the United Arab Emirates. The installation began operating at the end of 2025 and is rated to assemble up to 1.5 million finished belted rounds a year. The figure is manufacturing capacity, not an independently verified annual shipment total or a disclosed customer’s order.
Three connected modules handle successive manufacturing stages: cartridge case assembly and filling, projectile filling and assembly, and final assembly and belting. EDGE says sub-components move through these operations without manual intervention in the assembly sequence. Automated handling still requires qualified process supervision, maintenance and inspection to keep the equipment operating within its specified limits.
Mohammed Arbabi, chief executive officer of LAHAB, reports that the automated process has reduced manual labour requirements by nearly 60%. That measure does not identify the total number of employees at the facility, whether staff have been reassigned or the number of labour hours used to produce an accepted batch. EDGE has not published comparative unit costs or externally verified output-per-employee figures.
Linking the three modules allows production flow and machine conditions to be monitored together. Each module has its own operating status and throughput, and interruptions can affect downstream stages even when those machines remain available. The line’s monitoring system records performance data, allowing operators to identify developing constraints and investigate deviations before they accumulate across a shift.
A live dashboard displays output, operating performance and production status across the line. Staff can use that information to investigate stoppages and changes in throughput without relying exclusively on end-of-shift reports. EDGE has not identified the dashboard software, the sensor arrangement on each machine or which process adjustments, if any, occur automatically when abnormal conditions are detected.
Connecting modules is important because increasing one machine’s nominal speed does not necessarily raise the output of the entire line. Material availability, equipment reliability and the slowest stage of production can constrain throughput. Monitoring the separate modules helps a production team distinguish a short interruption from a persistent bottleneck, while any throughput improvement must still be reconciled with inspection requirements and equipment availability.
In ammunition manufacturing, process control must also accommodate strict requirements for product identity, handling and quality assurance. Components and completed items have to meet defined specifications, and records must allow deviations to be investigated and corrected. Automation can improve repeatability but cannot replace qualified inspection, appropriate safety management or formal customer acceptance. EDGE has not disclosed rejection rates, test results or acceptance statistics for the new line.
The line’s output consists of assembled ammunition prepared in belted form for compatible feeding systems, rather than components from only one manufacturing stage. The breakdown between ammunition variants and individual customers has not been published. It would therefore be inaccurate to allocate the full rated capacity to a particular armed force, contract or delivery programme.
Annual capacity also needs to be separated from sustained output. Rated throughput can depend on the assumed shift pattern, the time available for maintenance, material supply and the operating performance of each module. The company has confirmed full-rate production status but has not provided a 12-month volume of conforming rounds, a detailed utilisation figure or a future delivery schedule. Those figures would be needed to measure realised annual production against the 1.5 million capacity claim.
LAHAB’s production line is one part of EDGE’s wider programme to automate and monitor manufacturing. The group reports completing more than 68 Industry 4.0 projects at 28 production facilities in 2025, with output capacity doubled at 13 entities. Those group-wide figures describe different operations; they do not imply that every EDGE factory or the new 40mm line achieved the same increase in production.
One example is the automated assembly line for HALCON’s DESERT STING 16 guided-glide weapon. EDGE describes an arrangement using 11 industrial robots, more than 300 sensors, six machine-vision stations and automated handling and inspection. It reports a 130% increase in production volume and a 23% reduction in labour content for that project. The production metrics belong to that particular installation and should not be applied to LAHAB’s 40mm line.
At CARACAL, another EDGE business, an automated storage and retrieval system has reportedly increased storage density by around 80% while making retrieval operations three times faster. Warehouse automation addresses different constraints from ammunition assembly, but both involve tracing material movement, reducing avoidable handling and obtaining more timely information about the condition of production or inventory flows.
EDGE’s BRIDGE function oversees industrialisation, operational excellence and innovation across the group. The work spans automation, data collection and production processes, but EDGE has not disclosed the capital cost or equipment supplier list for LAHAB’s 40mm installation. Nor has it reported a definitive local-content proportion for the components moving through the line.
LAHAB’s automated 40×53mm production line has progressed from its late-2025 start-up to the full-rate operation reported on 22 October. Its stated capacity of up to 1.5 million rounds annually provides an indication of installed manufacturing scale, while realised production, acceptance yields, equipment availability and customer deliveries remain undisclosed. Those measures will determine output over a full operating year.
