«The drone market in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is very promising.»
Abdulsalam Ghamdi is Business Director and a member of the Board of Directors of INTRA Defence Technologies.
Unmanned aerial vehicles are expected to be one of the most dynamic growth sectors in the coming years, particularly the defence unmanned aerial systems (UAS) segment. Saudi Arabia is investing in this industry, what are the growth forecasts in your country?
Saudi Arabia aims to boost the Kingdom's local defence industry sector to make it a major pillar of its economy and a key contributor to providing job opportunities for Saudi youth, advancing development by increasing non-oil revenues.
In addition to enhancing the Kingdom's strategic independence in this sector, consolidating the foundations of its national security, and supporting its economic and social prosperity, the aim is to create a competitive environment that facilitates the work of the UAS segment by creating a regulatory body for military industries, the General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI), and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) – which was the Saudi Arabian Military Industry (SAMI) in 2017.
The Saudi UAS market is a promising one, full of opportunities, stemming from several factors, most notably the Kingdom's Vision 2030 program. For those familiar with the defence and security field in the Kingdom, the significant strides taken by the Saudi Arabian government to localise these important defence technologies are evident. His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has aimed to prioritise the localisation of sensitive industries in the defence fields, stating in a speech that «No arms contract without local content», which provides a strong impetus for national companies to contribute to the Vision programme's objectives.
At INTRA, we believe the drone market in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is very promising, both in the military and commercial sectors, as there are other important commercial sectors such as tourism, environmental, industrial, oil and gas, etc.
INTRA Defense Technologies boasts a state-of-the-art R&D centre, unique in the region. What are the main technologies they are working on and the technological challenges they are focusing on?
INTRA focuses on three main technologies: unmanned systems and subsystems, electro-optical systems and communication systems. Our engineering and development team works on the design, development and testing of operational and tactical unmanned aerial systems for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance missions. INTRA is also providing the local commercial and industrial sector with other unmanned systems (unmanned land and sea vehicles and remotely operated underwater vehicles) that are low-cost, reliable and fast solutions. To this end, it collaborates with international technology partners to transfer and localise artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and data processing technologies embedded in these systems. INTRA has extensive experience in conducting technical studies to integrate different airborne and ground subsystems such as payloads and sensors with EO/IR cameras, radar systems, satellite communication systems and weapons systems. INTRA is also providing a highly mobile, modular ground segment and communication system for the storage and transportation of ground support equipment and unmanned aerial systems, and providing high-speed encrypted command and control to the unmanned aerial system.
What will UAS solutions for the defence industry look like in the short term?
We believe that UAS solutions are the future of the defence industry given the increasing demand for ISR, armed ISR services, and training. More and more applications in the defence sector are moving towards unmanned services, due to the risk involved in traditional human-led operations. Furthermore, the cost of unmanned systems is often lower than traditional ones. Therefore, we firmly believe that Saudi Arabia has a promising market in the field of UAS. INTRA will play a significant role in localising 50%% of the total military expenditure of the Kingdom’s Government, particularly in the UAS sector.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the defence sector remains stable in 2021. How does this affect INTRA's ongoing UAS projects?
During the initial phase of the pandemic, there was uncertainty, as in any other company. However, thanks to excellent planning and team support, INTRA survived the pandemic and continued business as usual.
INTRA had excellent preparation, and our plans and objectives were not affected, thanks to the emergency plan drawn up by the company to deal with the impact of the pandemic. In this way, there was no impact on research, development, operation, and training.
In the UAS segment, training, collaboration and technology transfer are required. What are INTRA's strengths in UAS design and manufacturing?
Since its inception, INTRA has built technical capabilities and competent teams with advanced skills who work to the highest international standards to design, develop and operate various unmanned systems.
INTRA has made a significant investment in the development of various UAS and payloads, such as the development of the first local VTOL UAS, «ASEF,» which was showcased at the Dubai Airshow in 2019. INTRA's VTOL will be fully operational this year.
INTRA has constructed the first UAS manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia, to the highest international standards to meet the growing demand for UAS systems. The factory area, spanning over 6000 square metres, will be dedicated to the manufacturing, assembly and testing of different UAS. INTRA has also built a development and MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) centre in Riyadh for UAS subsystems, for example, electro-optics.