Reuters
Walid Abu Khaled, CEO of the Saudi Military Industries Corporation, said the company aims to achieve annual revenues of $ 5 billion by 2030.
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Today, Monday, at the International Defense Exhibition “IDEX” in Abu Dhabi, Abu Khaled added that the company aims to be among the top 25 companies producing defense equipment by 2030.
He said that the company would sign an agreement with the Emirati company, Nimr, which manufactures military vehicles, to manufacture this type of vehicle in Saudi Arabia.
Walid Abu Khaled, who did not give a figure for current revenues, took over as CEO of the Saudi Military Industries Corporation last April.
He set a more conservative goal than his predecessor, who in 2019 said he wanted the company to be among the top 10 defense companies in the world by 2030. Abu Khaled said he had not made a major change in the company’s strategy.
The Public Investment Fund, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, established the Military Industries Corporation as part of a broad economic program to diversify the kingdom’s oil-dependent economy.
Saudi Arabia is one of the largest importers of arms in the world, and it has been involved in a conflict in Yemen for 6 years. The kingdom established the company in 2017 to reduce dependence on imported weapons and military systems.
The government aims to spend 50 percent of its military budget by 2030 on locally made equipment.
Source: Reuters
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