The General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) participates in the Sixth International Conference on Electronic Warfare and Radar (EWR) Technologies in Riyadh

GAMI confirmed, during its participation yesterday in the Sixth International Conference on Electronic Warfare and Radar (EWR) Technologies in Riyadh, that, in cooperation with its partners in the Kingdom’s Defense Sector, 21 military technologies have been identified that the Sector will target and look to develop during the next seven years.

During his participation in the panel discussion portion of the conference, which tackled the topic of cooperation between beneficiaries and investors in the context of defense innovation, Military Industry Development GM Abdullah Binzaraah spoke about the ecosystem of military industries in the Kingdom. He mentioned that the Authority's position is to contribute to communication and cooperation between local and international members to enhance the added value in the Sector. Binzaraah explained that the military, local manufacturers and R&D centers and indeed all concerned are in the process of updating their operations and activities to keep pace with the new Sector strategy, which the Authority will announce soon. Also, the Authority continues to update the tight legislative framework for the Sector, which includes the interdependencies between all stakeholders and paves the way for opportunities to cooperate and encourages investment in the Sector.

In response to the question of the principal military technologies that the Sector will look to develop, Binzaraah mentioned that the new strategy identified 21 military technologies that emerge from 7 segments, namely Optics, Directed Energy, Radar, Radio, Cyber-Security Technologies, Electromagnetic Weapons, and Artificial Intelligence.

Furthermore, he added: The Authority has been facing the challenge of building a growing Sector, which requires significant government investment and support to empower and advance it, noting that GAMI will start where others have stopped in R&D of new technologies, and will depend on its competencies and its relations with friendly countries and international manufacturers to build the structure and research infrastructure of the domestic military industries.

Binzaraah continued by elaborating on the long-term planning for the needs of military entities in the Kingdom, which is essential for building local capabilities. He praised the efforts made by the concerned parties in the Sector to reach an approach that enables the military entities to develop five-year plans based on their needs. Moreover, He stressed that empowering local manufacturers and enhancing their competitiveness will be extremely important for the advancement of the Sector. Binzaraah also noted that the executive regulations of the government tendering and procurement law contribute to overcoming this challenge and that GAMI is also working on developing incentives programs to bridge the competitive gap between local and international manufacturers during the coming period.

The Sixth International Conference on EWR Technologies was organized by the Ministry of Defense (MOD) and the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), as the participation of GAMI in the conference emerges from its keenness to achieve its goals of regulating, developing and monitoring the Sector in the Kingdom, and monitoring its performance. Additionally, holding exhibitions and conferences, scientific seminars and working sessions related to military industries, procurement, and R&D activities in the field by regulatory procedures, is in line with the conference’s aims to enable specialists and interested people to learn about the latest developments in the areas of EWR technologies.