SAMI Composite Materials Company, wholly owned by Saudi Arabia’s state-owned defense company, SAMI, has signed an agreement with US aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin to establish a center of excellence in manufacturing composite materials in Riyadh.
The center will be established with support from the General Authority for Military Industries, in an effort to enhance aircraft manufacturing capabilities in the kingdom.
The agreement was signed by the CEO of SAMI Group, Engineer Walid bin Abdul Majeed Abu Khaled, and Vice President for International Business at Lockheed Martin, Ray Beselli, in the presence of the Governor of the General Authority for Military Industries, Engineer Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al-Ohali, in the United Kingdom on the sidelines of the 2022 edition of the Farnborough International Airshow.
The establishment of the center is part of SAMI’s efforts to develop the sustainable and self-sufficient defense industries sector in the kingdom, in line with the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 to localize more than 50 percent of the kingdom’s defense spending by the end of the current decade, a media report said.
The new center will help the kingdom to build its aerospace manufacturing capabilities in order to produce advanced solutions for the future, the report said.
SAMI Composite Materials Limited and Lockheed Martin will evaluate and develop the center in several phases, in addition to developing national cadres.
Ahmed Al-Ohali, said, “We are pleased to support such a strategic cooperation between local manufacturing companies and their international counterparts from OEMs, and we look forward to developing a center of excellence that will enhance the kingdom’s strategic self-sufficiency in the aviation sector in particular, and the defense sector in general.”
Beselli said, “Lockheed Martin is keen to strengthen its cooperation with SAMI in its efforts to contribute to achieving the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and through industrial partnerships, specialized knowledge transfer programs and human resource development initiatives, we will continue our efforts to develop the defense industries sector in Kingdom Saudi Arabia”.
SAMI Composite Materials Limited CEO John Flavin said the center will develop a skilled Saudi workforce to produce components and composite materials to the requirements of commercial aerospace and defense platforms.