Pak Sahafat – Ahmed Al-Awahli, the head of the Saudi Military Industries Organization, said on Tuesday that the country has invested about 5.1 billion Saudi Riyals (equivalent to 1.4 billion dollars) in the military industry in the last two years.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency’s report from Reuters news agency, Al-Hohli added: About three billion and 300 million Saudi Riyals (about 877 million dollars) have been spent on research and development in Saudi Arabia’s indigenous military industries in 2021 and 2022.
He also said: It is expected that by 2030, Saudi Arabia’s government investment in the country’s military industry will contribute about $25.2 billion to Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product.
Meanwhile, Waleed Abu Khaled, executive director of the Saudi Arabian Military Industries Company, said: The country plans to invest in unmanned defense systems, radars and electronic security systems in the coming years.
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Abu Khaled also said that Saudi Arabia used to be the third most expensive country in terms of military budget, but today it has been reduced to the ninth place due to the cost reform.
Saudi Arabia hopes that the production of indigenous military equipment can reduce its huge military expenses from abroad, so that most of the country’s defense expenses are spent on buying weapons from foreign countries.
According to this report, Saudi military spending will increase again next year and will reach 259 billion Rials from 245 billion Rials in 2022.
Each US dollar is equivalent to 3.76 Saudi riyals.
While Saudi Arabia is trying to localize its weapons and military systems, military experts in the region have repeatedly emphasized that this country does not have the intellectual, scientific and practical ability to implement such plans.