Arab News | Recent attacks accelerating Saudi military industry localization, GAMI acting chief tells Arab News

RIYADH: Recent attacks on Saudi Arabia are accelerating the Kingdom’s efforts to develop domestic military industries, rather than disrupting its localization plans, Bandar Al-Khorayef, the acting governor of the General Authority for Military Industries, told Arab News.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Military Industries Forum in Riyadh, Al-Khorayef said the recent attacks had reinforced the importance of the Kingdom’s localization strategy.

“In fact, it is helping it grow. It is another demonstration of the reality that we live in, of the reasoning behind the policy, and of how we should accelerate,” he said.

“The conflict in the region today is driving localization to accelerate, but it is also allowing the private sector to engage with users and understand the needs of their daily activities.”

He likened the moment to the COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed the Kingdom to localize pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing, and achieve self-reliance in products such as vaccines, insulin and plasma — projects he said would likely not have moved as quickly without that pressure.

“The driver for the results we have been achieving is really the right policies, and the coordination between GAMI and all of the other stakeholders, especially the defense industry, the ministries and the private sector,” Al-Khorayef said.

He explained that GAMI’s localization policy spells out what is expected of international contractors, who coordinate with end users and the regulator to break each program down into its activities and ensure localization within it.

“At the same time, we are building an ecosystem that enables the private sector to operate in a transparent, policy-driven environment. This will create the sustainability that we are looking for,” he said.

Looking beyond the Kingdom’s borders, Al-Khorayef said the industrial base built under Vision 2030 and the national industrial strategy will carry the sector forward.

“What we have been able to build as an industrial base in the last 10 years is the foundation on which the military industry will be built today,” he said.

The line between general industry and military industry is no longer clear-cut, he added, with the two growing ever closer.

“Dual use is a key component of the military industry today. It represents almost 80 percent of it, which means that building these capabilities will allow different players and investors, especially global players, to have their facilities here in Saudi Arabia to serve the local market and also export,” he said.

“We have a very strong industrial base, we have good infrastructure, we have competitive energy and we are in a location where we can access different markets.”

Al-Khorayef also pointed to Saudi Arabia’s balanced relations with different countries and its strong, stable monetary and economic policy.

“All of this creates the right atmosphere for investment,” he said.

Now in its third year, the forum is organized by GAMI under the theme “Developing and Sustaining Investment in the Military Industries Sector” and brings together beneficiary and supporting government entities alongside companies working in the sector. It also serves as the platform for announcing the share of military spending localized each year.