On the opening day of Dubai Airshow, Governor of the General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) Ahmad Al-Ohali (photo), inaugurated GAMI’s pavilion at the Dubai Airshow 2021, in the presence of several officials and investors in the defense military industries sector.
Al-Ohali checked on the pavilions of participating companies and their preparations that reflect the level of development witnessed by the sector and its local capabilities that meet the operational needs of the military apparatuses.
He stressed that GAMI’s participation in the event is an extension of its endeavors to enable the sector to realize its targets set under the Saudi Vision 2030 in an accurate way through providing qualitative partnerships and meeting with international investors interested in investment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to share the process of localization, exchange knowledge and expertise, and transfer technologies, noting that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia pays much attention to the defense and national security sector, thanks to the directives of the wise leadership to localize various industries in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to be a source for enriching the national economy and a reason for its sustainable prosperity.
He added that the Dubai Airshow is a qualitative opportunity to showcase and analyze the future of the aviation industry that is witnessing a big and remarkable development thanks to Allah and then the limitless support of the government of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.
Al-Ohali also noted that GAMI’s participation in the exhibition is part of its goals to empower the sector through creating partnerships among international players in the field, exchanging knowledge and expertise, promoting promising investment opportunities, supporting investors and facilitating their access to the military industries market, including the military aviation field, adding that the military industries sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by GAMI and all its public and private sectors partners, seeks to realize the strategic goal of localizing the military industries in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with more than 50% of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s expenditure on military equipment and services by 2030.
Exhibitors from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) participating at Dubai Airshow included the General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI); General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA); Saudi Aerospace Company; Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI); Advanced Electronics Company (AEC), a subsidiary of SAMI; Saudi Arabian Airlines, OxfordSaudia Flight Academy ; and GDC Middle East.
Advanced Electronics Company (AEC)presented its portfolio of cutting-edge solutions and technologies within its defense and aerospace sector, including Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services, Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I), operations center, Electronic Warfare (EW) products and solutions, drones, and simulation systems, among other.
A broad range of technology and system products of the Aeronautics and Defense Electronics business divisions of SAMI were also on display at the booth which also featured several exhibits from the Aircraft Accessories & Components Company (AACC), a subsidiary of SAMI, including MRO services for aircraft hydraulics and secondary power systems (SPS) for multiple platforms, as well as the repair and maintenance of civil aircraft landing gear, and enhanced Non-destructive Testing (NDT) and helicopter maintenance capabilities.
Commenting on this participation, Eng. Walid Abukhaled, CEO of SAMI and Chairman of AEC, said: “Our participation at Dubai Airshow 2021 affords us a global platform to showcase our company’s leading solutions in the defense, aerospace, and aeronautics sectors. It will also provide us with opportunities to conclude strategic partnerships and establish new cooperative relationships with major global and regional players”.
“We are looking forward to capitalizing on this mega exhibition to advance our goals to grow our business and support the achievement of the Saudi Vision 2030 goal of 50% localization of Saudi Arabia’s military expenditure by the end of the decade. This will be achieved through the localization of expertise and the transfer of knowledge, technology, and production,” he added.
Eng. Ziad Al-Musallam, CEO of AEC, said: “Our participation in this prominent event underlines our leadership in Saudi Arabia’s military manufacturing industry. We are always keen to have a distinctive presence at global exhibitions to highlight our extensive expertise and introduce our high-quality solutions and technologies. We also look forward to showcasing our engineering and manufacturing capabilities. This is part of our commitment to fulfilling the needs of the Saudi army and national security forces, localizing the military products industry, and advancing the aerospace and defense sector by manufacturing defense and aeronautics products locally, and aligning our capabilities with the goals of Vision 2030.”
“The exhibition also provides us with the opportunity to connect with the largest global and regional companies and investors in the aviation and defense sectors to discuss growth and investment opportunities in the Saudi market,” Eng. Al-Musallam added.
AEC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pinnacle Solutions, the leading American company in the innovation, development and manufacturing of defense and aerospace products and services, to cooperate in upgrading the Apache helicopters from version two to version six, along with training services and provision of support in the aviation sector, in line with the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 that are related to the localization of capabilities and programs, in order to achieve independence of the Saudi military industries sector.
The pavilion of AEC and SAMI was visited by a number of senior officials from government and private authorities and from the defense sector, including Eng. Ahmed Al-Ohali, Governor of the General Authority of Military Industries, Lieutenant-General Fayyad Al-Ruwaili, Chairman of the General Authority of Military Industries and Chief of Staff, Abdul Aziz Al-Duailej, President of the General Civil Aviation Authority, Eng. Ibrahim Al Omar, Director General of the Saudi Arabian Airlines Corporation, and Lieutenant-General Dhahi Khalfan Al Tamim, Deputy Chief of Police and Public Security in Dubai.
Founded in 1988, AEC has established a firm position in Saudi Arabia’s military sector for more than three decades. The company employs more than 2,200 employees, 85% of whom are Saudis, including over 800 highly skilled and certified male and female engineers working in various fields.
AEC is owned by SAMI, a national entity wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), develops and supports military industries in Saudi Arabia to strengthen its autonomy. SAMI is playing a leading role in supporting the localization of 50% of the Kingdom’s military spending, part of Saudi Vision 2030’s goals. It aims to be among the world’s leading 25 companies in this sector.
For its part, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia showcased its strategy and highlighted the investment opportunities available in this sector as well as the Kingdom’s hosting of an aviation summit in 2022 which is important at the international level.
The participation introduced the GACA vision on the strategy to place the civil aviation sector in Saudi Arabia in the first place in the Middle East by 2030, and reviewed the investment opportunities and the civil aviation sector projects. (Photo © AEC: HRH Major General Turki bin Bandar Al Saud, Royal Saudi Air Forces Commander, visiting AEC stand at Dubai Airshow 2021)
