The General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) has announced establishing the "National Academy of Military Industries" to train, rehabilitate and enable national personnel to work in the military and defense industries sector to contribute to realizing targets of the localization. The ceremony of the announcement, which was held at the academy's headquarters in Riyadh, was attended by more than 35 local and international companies and relevant government institutions. The ceremony also included announcing the formation of the board of directors of the academy and handing over the establishment license to the academy Chairman Eng. Walid Abu Khalid and other founding partners. GAMI Governor Eng. Ahmad Abdulaziz Al-Ohali stressed that the establishment of an independent and specialized academy in the military and defense sector, whose board of directors comprises representatives from the public and private sectors and supported by the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation and industrial companies, is an extension of the military industries sector strategy that was endorsed by the Cabinet in April, 2021. Al-Ohali said that this academy will be the biggest supporter for the strategy of the sector that counts on the national human resources, pointing out that the localization of technologies is connected with the localization of the capabilities of the national human resources. He added that the authority is committed to supporting the national human personnel, noting that the military industries sector in Saudi Arabia has witnessed qualitative leaps over the past five years. The GAMI governor praised the special care and the big interest and support that the military and defense industries sector receives in Saudi Arabia from the government of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and the Crown Prince, to embody the ambitious vision towards enhancing the strategic independence of Saudi Arabia and building a local and sustainable military industries sector. For his part, Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) CEO and the academy Chairman Eng. Abu Khalid said that the National Academy of Military Industries is considered a strategic tool to ensure the success of the supply chain project in the military industries sector through developing and refining the knowledge and capabilities of the human element in the specialized technological, engineering and scientific fields and specializations concerned with the military, defense and security industries, and what the labor requirements need. He stressed that developing, rehabilitating and enabling national personnel, creating innovative and new industries and technologies, enhancing the strategic independence of Saudi Arabia and seeking to localize this promising sector are all considered a strategic goal that supports realizing the sector's targets of localizing more than 50% of the military expenditure by 2030. The headquarters of the National Academy of Military Industries is located over an area of 65,000 square meters and a capacity of around 2,000 students, where the premises of the academy were established according to the best international standards and pioneering international criteria in the technical and vocational education, where the academy comprises the latest technologies in training and education, digital laboratories, and virtual and augmented reality technologies. — SPA
