Calidus of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced a teaming agreement on 20 February with Saudi firm GDC Middle East to market the Calidus B-250 light attack aircraft to markets in the Middle East and North Africa.
Under the agreement, the two companies are to work together on marketing the aircraft across the region, as well as developing in-house capabilities for the aircraft, which is to be built at Al Ain in the UAE.
Calidus displayed the B-250 at IDEX 2019, and will be marketing it to Saudi Arabia and the region. (IHS Markit/Patrick Allen)
Fawaz Alsharabi, the CEO of GDC Middle East, said, “This is a major step for GDC Middle East to be a partner with Calidus’s totally new developed aircraft. This is aligned with Saudi Vision 2030, and provides an ideal opportunity for Saudi industry to jointly develop the platform’s mission system and weapon integration through GDC ME, and for GDC ME and Calidus to co-own the intellectual property.”
Alsharabi added, “The programme will bring high-end technological capability and highly skilled jobs into the Kingdom [of Saudi Arabia], as well as representing a significant opportunity for the Saudi military industry to develop a systems integration capability.”
The Calidus B-250 was first shown at the Dubai Air Show in 2017, following a two-year long development programme with Brazil’s Novaer.
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