{"id":64728,"date":"2026-04-27T23:51:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T21:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=64728"},"modified":"2026-05-14T23:19:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:19:22","slug":"x-range-a-huge-private-island-used-for-weapons-testing-in-the-united-arab-emirates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/04\/27\/x-range-a-huge-private-island-used-for-weapons-testing-in-the-united-arab-emirates\/","title":{"rendered":"X Range, a huge private island used for weapons testing in the United Arab Emirates"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the world there are some large areas that are off-limits to the public and reserved for weapons testing.<\/p>\n

Semipalatinsk, a top secret site that withstood 456 Soviet atomic tests<\/a><\/rel>
\nA tour of the Trinity Site, the place of the first atomic explosion in history<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

One of those locations is X Range, an island located off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.<\/strong> Originally called Abu Al Abyad, this island is situated off the southwest coast of Abu Dhabi, about 70 km from the city. In 2024, European Defence Review<\/a> noted that the island was identified in late 2022 by an Emirati company, Remaya, as the ideal location for a weapons testing range.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
The location of Abu Al Abyad Island on the shores of the Persian Gulf (Image: Google Earth<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Before being used as a weapons testing range, a ferry was needed to visit it<\/strong>, but Remaya built a bridge to facilitate access. Today, this site is used by Edge Group, an Emirati advanced technology and defense consortium<\/strong>, to test all kinds of weapons systems, providing a communications network to monitor the results.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
The island has an area of \u200b\u200b355 km\u00b2 and a maritime safety zone of 50 km\u00b2 (Image: Google Earth<\/a>).<\/div>\n

On the official X Range website<\/a>, Edge Group explains that the island em>\"brings flexible, multi-domain Training, Test and Evaluation (TT&E) capabilities to the heart of the Middle East.<\/strong> Commercial and military customers can conduct complex, air, ground and maritime trials in a secure, instrumented and ultimately, safe environment.\"<\/em> This island \"has the ability to cater for a wide range of platforms and systems, such as unmanned air, ground and maritime platforms<\/strong>, through to testing mission critical sensors and Electronic Warfare systems as well as conventional munitions.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
A map of the infrastructure that the island offers for weapons testing (Image: Edge Group<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Edge Group notes that X Range \"is located on a highly secure, access controlled island approximately 8km offshore. It is 35km by 15km, enabling a land danger area of 355km2<\/strong>, inclusive of a 3.8-kmlong, 60-metre-wide ICAO standard runway and a smaller 1.2KM long runway.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
An aerial view of the southwestern part of the island (Photo: Edge Group<\/a>).<\/div>\n

In addition to the island's surface area and coastline, X Range<\/strong> has airspace authorization up to 10,000 feet (3,048 meters), extendable to 40,000 feet (12,192 meters) for aircraft testing. The island is surrounded by a 50 km\u00b2 maritime safety zone<\/strong>, so its coastline also allows for testing of marine systems in shallow waters.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
One of the X Range runways (Photo: Edge Group<\/a>).<\/div>\n

In February 2025, Edge Group released a video showcasing the island's facilities<\/strong> for various phases of weapons testing:<\/p>\n