Security, Defence & Aerospace
From The Report: Saudi Arabia 2019
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As the world’s largest military spender per capita, Saudi Arabia is committed to maintaining the balance of power in the Middle East. It is also examining ways to balance its books by ensuring that a growing percentage of spending is on hardware locally produced within the Kingdom. Vision 2030 aims to localise spending on military equipment from its 2017 level of 2% to more than 50% by 2030. In the 2019 fiscal budget, 27% of spending was earmarked for defence and security, the highest allocation given to any sector. The government is also encouraging the development of advanced manufacturing in the Kingdom, and the aerospace segment in particular is a major target for increased investment. This chapter contains an interview with Andreas Schwer, CEO, Saudi Arabian Military Industries.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Stronger together: Focus on local providers of advanced manufacturing in the Kingdom leads to greater investments and a more united front
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As the world’s largest military spender per capita, Saudi Arabia is also examining ways to balance the books by maintaining the balance of power in the Middle East. At the same time, it is examining ways to balance its books by ensuring that a growing percentage of spending is on hardware locally produced within the Kingdom. Vision 2030 aims to localise spending on military equipment from its 2017 level of 2% to more than 50% by 2030. In the 2019 fiscal budget 27% of spending, or SR294bn…

Interview

Sharing resources: Andreas Schwer, CEO, Saudi Arabian Military Industries, on the best ways to secure effective and mutually beneficial partnerships with foreign investors
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Interview:Andreas Schwer What steps need to be taken when transferring knowledge and technology to new partners? ANDREAS SCHWER: Transfer of technology and knowledge sharing are usually coupled with direct investment in Saudi Arabia. Foreign partners need to be assured that, upon sharing their technologies, they will receive a return on their investment. Due to the sensitive nature of the defence industry, we also need to ensure that the knowledge shared with the Kingdom does not end up…

Analysis

Eyes on the future: Agreements with international manufacturers result in a rising number of joint ventures and investment opportunities
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Agreements made with international manufacturers of military hardware could result in thousands of skilled jobs for Saudi citizens and substantial investment in the Kingdom. The deals comprise the first steps of a plan to create a domestic defence industry capable of supplying more than half of its annual demand for advanced weapons systems, aircraft, ships, tanks and communications systems. With an impending deadline of 2030, the current state of military manufacturing in the Kingdom makes…