The General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) has announced granting licenses to 18 new companies to engage in the military industries sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The companies were able to obtain their licenses through E-portal, developed by the Authority without the need to come to the headquarters. This came in order to take preventive and precautionary measures to face COVID-19, and to enable local manufacturers advance this promising sector, which brings the total number of companies licensed by the authority to 38 national companies operating in the field of military industries with an expected investment volume of SR 9.5 billion (US$ 2.5 billion).
This announcement comes to achieve GAMI’s strategy to localize more than 50% of the Kingdom’s spending on military equipment and services, as GAMI developed a special platform to receive requests for issuing licenses in the areas of military manufacturing, military service provision, and supply of military products or services, which will enable local manufacturers to develop military industries, research and security technology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Established in accordance with the resolution of the Saudi Council of Ministers in August 2017, GAMI is the regulator, enabler and licensor of the Kingdom’s defense industry. We are entrusted to build a sustainable domestic defense sector that delivers significant social and economic benefits, while reinforcing the Kingdom’s autonomy, military readiness and national security.
GAMI’s aim is to localize 50% of Saudi Arabia’s military expenditure over the next decade in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. To achieve that, GAMI has identified three strategic focus pillars: industry regulation, acquisition and technology.
GAMI sits at the core of the Kingdom’s defense ecosystem, promoting transparency, leveraging synergies and driving intra-governmental collaboration to realize military industrialization.
Saudi Arabia has been one of the world’s biggest spenders on military equipment and services over many years. In 2018, the Kingdom reported the world’s third largest military expenditure, and topped the global list of the highest military spenders per GDP.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 acknowledged that KSA manufactures less than 5% of its military requirements. This prompted the target to grow local industry contribution 10-fold by 2030, an ambition that was the basis for the establishment of GAMI as a regulator and enabler of Saudi Arabia’s military industry.
Supported by the impetus of the national Vision, laid out by the Authority’s Chairman, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the strength of its leadership, GAMI is set to enable 50% localization of the Kingdom’s military spending by 2030.
