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Algeria the most attractive defense market with an increase of 6.2 percent a year until 2017 2910135.
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Defence & Security News - Algeria |
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| Tuesday, October 29, 2013 11:59 AM | |||
Algeria
the most attractive defense market with an increase of 6.2 percent a year
until 2017. |
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| North
Africa is expected to become a key defense market, led by regional military
heavyweight Algeria, increasingly the linchpin of the battle against al-Qaida
in Africa, amid major upgrades for military and security forces, a new
study says. Oil- and gas-rich Algeria will remain the continent's leading
defense market because of its procurement program for boosting its counterterrorism
and counterinsurgency capabilities, the Strategic Defense Intelligence
market research group reports. |
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| Despite its political and economic difficulties, "Algeria remains one of Africa's attractive defense markets, with a defense spending capability that is expected to increase in the forecast period, primarily owing to increased energy exports and an arms race in the North African region," noted SDI, which is based in Maryland. It estimated the Algerian defense market will maintain a steady growth rate of 6.2 percent a year until 2017, largely because of a force modernization program amid a growing jihadist insurgency across the region. "Another factor driving Algeria's defense procurement is the neglect the industry has faced for many years," the report observed. During the Cold War, Algeria, although officially in the non-aligned camp, obtained the vast majority of its military equipment from the Soviet Union. Since
the Soviet collapse, it has continued doing business with Moscow, which
is likely to be the recipient of any major arms purchases made by the
Algiers government. The Algerian military has given no indication of what its procurement program entails. But Arab military analysts say it focuses primarily on counterterrorism, such as helicopters, drones and rapid deployment ground systems. That includes a $248 million contract for 1,200 variants of the Fuchs armored personnel carriers produced by Rheinmetall of Germany. Delivery is scheduled through the next decade. Algeria acquired 54 Fuchs in 2011. Algeria is also planning to acquire APCs from NIMR Automotive, a subsidiary of Tawazun Holdings in the United Arab Emirates, and is expected to start joint production of four-wheel and six-wheel variants in the Algerian city of Khenchela this year. NIMR is eager to expand into North Africa, where it has already delivered more than 500 APCs to Libya, Jordan, Lebanon and the Emirates. Some 1,800 more are on order. Overall, defense industry analysts estimate that African defense spending will exceed $20 billion over the next decade. |
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