Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) announced the launch of a new bi-annual “World Defense Show” that will rival neighboring Abu Dhabi’s IDEX, according to a press release.
Every two years, Saudi Arabia’s World Defense Show will “feature latest innovations in interoperability across air, land, sea, security and satellite defense systems,” planners said. The show will “take center stage in the global defense show circuit, offering exhibitors and visitors the opportunity to participate in Saudi Arabia’s first truly integrated defense show.”
The World Defense Show seeks to rival Abu Dhabi’s IDEX with its launch in 2022.
The inaugural event is scheduled to take place between 6th and 9th March 2022 and will then be held biennially in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh.
Over four days, the World Defense Show will showcase comprehensive and interactive displays of integrated defense technology solutions, alongside conferences and thought leadership seminars focused on the next generation of defense. The show’s venue, estimated to accommodate 80,000 square meters of exhibition, hospitality and outdoor area, will feature demonstration facilities and virtual technological capabilities to showcase every defense domain on an unprecedented scale.
GAMI is the regulator, enabler and licensor of Saudi Arabia’s military industry, tasked to build a sustainable domestic defense sector. For decades, Saudi Arabia has relied on military imports for its defense, but since the launch of Vision 2030, the Kingdom has embarked on a process to build a new, homegrown domestic defense industry from scratch.
The goal for Saudi Arabia is to see the localization of military industries increasing from 5 to 50 percent by 2030.
“The first and most important benefit of localization is to enhance the Kingdom’s strategic independence, national security, as well as its military and security readiness,” HE Ahmad Al Ohali, Governor of GAMI said in November. “The economic and social dimension will include building a sector worth more than SR30 billion ($8 billion) in 2030, and contributing to the economic diversification of the Kingdom by supporting nonoil gross domestic product by about SR90 billion until 2030.”
In November, GAMI confirmed that the Kingdom will increase support for scifentific research from its military budget to 4 percent during the next 10 years, in order to convey technology, weapons industry and military industries in general.
“There is no better place than Saudi Arabia to organize a defense event at this scale. A G20 country, the Kingdom is one of the world’s biggest defense spenders with a strategic location at the center of three continents, making it an ideal hub for defense trade and innovation,” Al Ohali said. “Saudi Arabia’s vision to localize 50% of its multi-billion-dollar defense expenditure by 2030 also presents massive opportunities to global industry OEMs and investors.”
GAMI has recruited a team of international experts to organize and run event operations, GAMI said.
