The General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) launches its first research program to build secure military communications systems.

GAMI announced today the launch of a program to build software for radio technology. This program is the first research program to develop national capabilities in the field of manufacturing secure military communications systems. A set of projects will be implemented through radio technology, which will coordinate and activate the roles of end-users, national research centers, universities, and the national industrial sector.

H.E. GAMI Governor Ahmad Al Ohali confirmed that the program will contribute to the integration of efforts and coordination of roles for GAMI to achieve its principal goal of localizing more than 50% of the Kingdom's expenditure on military equipment and services. 

Al Ohali added: The Authority's first programs in the R&T field will bank on many innovative features and technologies, as it will be dependent on the availability of advanced communication devices and digital processors, which comprise high-level software, to determine the technical terms of communication systems.

H.E. concluded his speech saying: The program for localizing and building the radio technology will include projects that enable and develop several communications waves, which will assist the operational specifications of military and security entities and also develop the radio industry and its locally.

Radio technology relies on communication devices that consist of electronic circuits to generate and process radio signals, in addition to digital processors that contain specially developed software for determining the technical specifications of the communication system.

The radio technology launched by the Authority is also distinguished by several advantages that enable it to have operational compatibility between the different forces and allow them to find common waves operating on other radio systems. It has the advantage of securing communication channels from intrusions, interference or live eavesdropping through developing all wave components locally, which includes national coding, waveforms, expanse spectrum algorithms, and network diagrams.

The Radio technology empowers the possibility of upgrading, updating and adding new characteristics of the waves by developing unique software without the necessity of updating the devices. It is also possible to reuse various programs to make up a particular wave to generate other waves.

GAMI seeks to localize more than half of the Kingdom's expenditure on Defense through developing industries, research, technologies and national competencies, as well as to enhance exports and empower the Sector through long-term planning for military procurement. Also, to provide incentives to local manufacturers, empower the Sector in the Kingdom to become a revenue source and critical contributor to employment opportunities for Saudi youth, and drive growth by raising non-oil revenues.