The General Authority for Defense Development (GADD), and the Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) launched 2 programs, worth SR664 million, to support the development of defense systems in Saudi Arabia for 4 years. Under these contracts, SAMI will cooperate with national development centers and Saudi universities to meet the requirements of defense and security authorities. The Governor of the Authority Dr. Faleh Al-Sulaiman indicated that the Authority seeks, through this support, to direct defense development activities in development centers and national universities, and link them with the beneficiaries" requirements through national companies that will manufacture the outputs of these works. The support through the announced contracts represents the first package of the Authority’s programs to support the Saudi defense development sector. Dr. Al-Sulaiman stressed that this will be followed by a number of other programs to support and stimulate the sector. He stated that it is important to invest in national universities that have qualified national cadres to contribute to defense development in Saudi Arabia. In turn, the CEO of SAMI Eng. Walid Abu Khaled stressed the pioneering role that the company plays in localizing defense industries and achieving the aspirations of the Kingdom’s wise leadership to localize 50% of Saudi Arabia’s defense spending by 2030. For his part, Dr. Hatem Behairy, Assistant Governor for Planning Technologies and Systems, explained that this support seeks to invest national capabilities in developing software-defined communications systems. This is in addition to developing surveillance, reconnaissance, and combating drones systems. He noted that SAMI will develop this with universities and national development centers. The necessary laboratories will also be built to support development processes in relevant technologies, in addition to providing grants for qualitative research related to the targeted fields, Dr. Behairy said, indicating that this will be under the direct supervision and funding of the Authority.