ABU DHABI — The UAE Space Agency and advanced technology defense conglomerate EDGE, operating through its dedicated space entity FADA, have officially completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for Sirb 1, the inaugural spacecraft of Sirb, the United Arab Emirates’ National Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite program. Building upon the completion of its Preliminary Design Review in April 2026, this final major engineering review prior to flight hardware production validated the spacecraft’s architecture, interface controls, mission assurance protocols, risk assessments, and launch readiness margins, clearing the program to advance directly into manufacturing, assembly, integration, and testing (AIT) ahead of its targeted 2028 launch.
Led and funded by the UAE Space Agency, the Sirb constellation is being executed by a sovereign industrial consortium established in 2023 and headed by FADA as prime contractor alongside the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), Orbitworks, and international aerospace partners. Advancing the localization of sovereign aerospace intellectual property and supply chains within the Emirates, Sirb 1’s radar payload will undergo assembly, integration, and testing domestically at Orbitworks and TII facilities in the UAE.
Unlike traditional optical Earth observation satellites, Synthetic Aperture Radar spacecraft transmit active radar pulses toward the Earth’s surface, enabling continuous high resolution imaging day and night through dense cloud cover, atmospheric haze, and desert dust. Once deployed in orbit, Sirb 1 will deliver sovereign geospatial intelligence supporting environmental conservation, precision agriculture, maritime domain awareness, critical infrastructure monitoring, and rapid disaster response across domestic and international markets.
His Excellency Eng. Salem Butti Al Qubaisi, Director General of the UAE Space Agency, stated that Sirb exemplifies a transformative model for delivering national space missions by placing Emirati enterprises and national engineering talent at the core of developing advanced orbital capabilities. Al Qubaisi emphasized that uniting government strategic investment with domestic industrial expertise accelerates the goals of the National Space Strategy 2031, building lasting manufacturing capabilities and a globally competitive national space ecosystem.
Waleid Al Mesmari, President of Advanced Sensing at EDGE, noted that clearing the Critical Design Review underscores the rapid execution and technical precision of Sirb 1’s engineering teams in developing advanced radar imaging architectures. Al Mesmari affirmed that multi tiered collaboration across domestic and global partners is establishing a fully integrated SAR supply chain inside the UAE, reinforcing sovereign control over space assets and strengthening the nation’s international standing in Earth observation.
Mohsen Al Awadhi, Director of the Space Missions Department at the UAE Space Agency, explained that design validation transitions the mission into its most rigorous engineering phase, requiring every spacecraft subsystem to be manufactured, integrated, and qualified to spaceflight standards under ongoing agency oversight. Al Awadhi highlighted that the direct hands on collaboration of FADA and TII engineers alongside international specialists during Sirb 1 will be applied directly to subsequent satellites across the Sirb constellation, converting technical knowledge transfer into permanent national capability.
