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The General Authority for Military Industries organized the exhibition, which ran from February 8 to 12 and encompassed domains spanning air, land, sea, space and security. At the Saudi Arabian Military Industries pavilion Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz launched the SAMI Land Company to consolidate manufacturing, systems integration and lifecycle support for land-based defense platforms. He simultaneously established the SAMI Autonomous Company to advance unmanned and autonomous systems across aerial, maritime and ground domains as well as robotics. The minister also inaugurated the SAMI Land Industrial Complex and the HEET Program while unveiling the SAMI Local Content Program known as RUKN, the group’s flagship supply chain initiative.
Prince Khalid bin Salman and his South Korean counterpart witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Saudi General Authority for Defense Development and the Korean Agency for Defense Development, according to a statement from the General Authority for Military Industries. The agreement focuses on defense research, development, innovation and advanced military technologies and systems. The Saudi minister additionally signed three defense cooperation agreements with counterparts from Slovakia, Malaysia and Somalia during the event. The World Defense Show 2026 attracted 1,468 exhibitors from 89 countries, GAMI figures show. Organizers positioned the gathering as a platform to promote localization, industry diversification and international collaboration in line with Saudi Vision 2030.
The launches support SAMI’s central role in localizing 50 percent of Saudi military expenditure by 2030, according to Vision 2030 guidelines. A PwC assessment of military industries localization in the region described Saudi Arabia’s program as among the most ambitious, with SAMI established in 2017 to drive joint ventures, technology transfer and domestic manufacturing. The company has transformed from a nascent entity into a national champion that entered the Defense News Top 100 ranking for the first time in 2022.
SAMI expanded its payroll from 63 employees in 2018 to more than 3,000 by 2023, of whom 84 percent were Saudi nationals, a 2025 analysis published in Defence and Peace Economics found. The firm advanced 19 places in the global defense ranking in 2023 before reaching 75th position in 2024, the same review noted. These developments reflect sustained investment in building a comprehensive domestic defense industrial base that integrates multiple specialized divisions including aeronautics, weapons and missiles, defense electronics and land systems.
Media coverage of the show indicated that the SAMI Land Company will focus on land platforms while the Autonomous Company targets emerging robotics and unmanned technologies to address gaps in self-reliance. The RUKN program aims to strengthen the local supply chain by connecting Saudi small and medium enterprises with established international defense contractors. Such measures form part of a broader strategy that has seen SAMI evolve from a single company into a strategic group with dedicated subsidiaries, according to industry reporting from the exhibition.
The exhibition further featured a Saudi Supply Chain Zone designed to link local suppliers with global leaders, GAMI materials stated. Officials presented the new entities as key contributors to long-term industrial capacity building across the defense sector. The signed agreements with multiple nations are expected to facilitate additional technology exchanges and joint projects in the years ahead.
