Mohammad bin Salman inaugurated the 2022 World Defense Industry Exhibition in Saudi Arabia with the participation of 590 military industry companies and representatives from 42 countries.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency International Group, The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, today inaugurated the 2022 World Defense Industry Exhibition in Riyadh on behalf of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz.
According to the official Saudi news agency, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia inaugurated the 2022 World Defense Industry Exhibition with the participation of 590 world military industry companies. The exhibition is scheduled to run until March 9, with the participation of 590 companies and representatives from 42 countries.
Some of Saudi Arabia’s defense and security organizations are participating in the fair, as well as centers related to Riyadh’s military and defense industries, which have been showcasing a variety of military equipment.
At the opening of the exhibition, Mohammad bin Salman visited the Saudi Defense Industries Command and Remote Control Center, which is equipped with the latest systems and technologies made by foreign defense companies.
Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud, Interior Minister Abdullah bin Bandar, Minister of the National Army, Khalid bin Salman, Deputy Minister of Defense, and Ahmed bin Aqeel Al-Khatib, Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of the World Defense Industry Exhibition, accompanied the Saudi Crown Prince.
Riyadh yesterday held a one-day conference entitled “Riyadh for Defense” attended by more than 300 government and military figures from around the world to expand coordination and continue dialogue on the defense industry.
Following the conference, Ahmad al-Awhali, head of the Saudi Military Industries Organization, announced at a one-day conference entitled “Riyadh for Defense”: Saudi Arabia will continue to nationalize its military and security industries, and by 2030 will increase military spending on military equipment and services by 50%.
Saudi Arabia announced in early 2021 that it intends to invest more than $ 20 billion in its domestic military industry over the next decade as part of its plans to boost military spending, and seeks to develop and build more weapons and domestic military systems and by 2030, spend 50% of the military budget internally.
Today, oil-rich Saudi Arabia is one of the largest importers of military equipment in the world. The United States, Britain, Germany and France are the main suppliers of weapons to Saudi Arabia. 73% of all Saudi weapons imports came from the United States and 13% from Britain. The country is sometimes in trouble because of its strong dependence on the United States and Western countries, especially for its weapons systems.
Recently, Emily Hawthorne, a Middle East and North Africa analyst at Stratfor, said that Saudi Arabia may have made progress in the domestic weapons industry, particularly in the development of surface-to-air, electronic and smart bomb systems; But the goal of 50% of Saudi Arabia’s military budget for domestic weapons is still a distant and impossible goal.
Saudi Arabia relies heavily on foreign resources and imports of advanced weapons, aircraft and ships.