Saudi Arabia plans to invest more than $20 billion in its domestic military industry over the next decade as part of an aggressive strategy to boost local military spending, a Reuters report quoting a senior official said.

 

The kingdom wants to develop and manufacture more weapons and military systems domestically.

 

“The government has put a plan that we will be investing in excess of $10 billion in the military industry in Saudi Arabia over the next decade and equal amounts on research and development,” Governor of the General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al-Ohali told the International Defence Conference in Abu Dhabi.

 

He also said the kingdom plans to increase military research and development (R&D) spending from 0.2% to around 4% of armaments expenditure by 2030.