Belgian company CMI will produce turrets in Saudi Arabia.

The Belgian company CMI (Cockerill Mechanical Industries), based in Seraing near Liège, signed on Monday 28 January an agreement with Saudi Arabia to create a joint venture specialized in tank and wheeled armored vehicle turrets, reports the Belgian newspaper L'Echo on Wednesday, January 30. The goal is to design and manufacture military equipment on site.

 CMI designs and manufactures a wide range of turrets and guns adaptable at will on tracked or wheeled vehicles (Picture source: Army Recognition)

"The Saudi authorities have chosen a series of international partners like Boeing, Lockheed Martin and us, to create joint ventures to develop a defense activity in their country," said Xavier Rigo, spokesperson for CMI Defense. CMI Defense holds 49% of this new joint venture, and SAMI, the Saudi military industrial company, 51%.

According to the spokesperson of CMI, the joint venture should have indirect spin-offs on the parent company, especially at the design office, but should not call into question the activities of CMI in Belgium.

More specifically, this new joint venture would not be intended to replace CMI Defense's contract with Canadian GDLS. This contract includes the transfer to Canada of turrets designed by CMI, where they are integrated with armored vehicles that are sent to Saudi Arabia.

Criticized by the opposition and human rights defenders, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants to cancel the contract. In Belgium, CMI has received the necessary export licenses from the Walloon Region. Directly manufacturing in Saudi Arabia would allow CMI to work without these procedures, writes L'Echo.