SAMI to Develop Composites Manufacturing Centre of Excellence in Riyadh

SAMI Composites LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of SAMI, the Saudi defense national champion, announced that it has signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin, a leading global security and aerospace company, to develop a Composites Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Riyadh with the support of the General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI), to boost Saudi Arabia’s aerospace manufacturing capabilities.

The agreement was inked on the sidelines of the 2022 edition of Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) in the United Kingdom by Eng. Walid Abukhaled, CEO of SAMI Group, and Ray Piselli, Vice President of International Business at Lockheed Martin, in the presence of H.E. Ahmad Bin Abdulaziz Al-Ohali, Governor of GAMI.  The Composites Manufacturing Center of Excellence forms part of SAMI’s efforts to develop a sustainable and self-sufficient defense industries sector in Saudi Arabia, in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 goal of localizing more than 50% of the Kingdom’s expenditure on defense equipment and services by the year 2030. The new composites manufacturing center will help Saudi Arabia build its aerospace manufacturing capabilities to produce cutting-edge solutions in the future. SAMI Composites LLC and Lockheed Martin will assess and develop the center in a phased manner and will also focus on national talent development.