A Louisiana shipbuilder has commenced legal proceedings in New York’s Supreme Court against the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA) and the National Bank of Kuwait (New York). United States Marine Inc. (USMI) is seeking an injunction to prevent KDIPA from triggering a bank guarantee for the discharge of offset commitments. Court documents allege fraudulent intent.
Saudi Arabia has replaced Dr Andreas Schwer as CEO of Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI). Walid Abukhaled took over on April 23 as acting CEO. In a government-approved statement to the domestic media Schwer was damned with faint praise. “The decision of the Board of Directors was made after the assessment of SAMI’s achievements since its inception, which included...”
The CEO of Malaysia’s Technology Depository Agency (TDA), Zailani Safari, has left the agency. Mohd Shahar Abdullah, the recently appointed Deputy Minister of Finance, communicated the surprise decision not to renew Zailani’s contract last month. Shahar was appointed March 10. Zailani left the agency on March 31.
Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry, Melissa Price, is planning to toughen the Australian Industry Capability (AIC) program. The move comes in response to shortcomings exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The minister said that COVID-19 is creating “unprecedented challenges” for the local defence industry and additional support is needed to support small businesses in the defence sector.
Heikki Nikunen, a former Lieutenant General of the Finnish Air Force, has said that local assembly of fighter jets is not an important part of the country’s HX Fighter Program. The HX Fighter Program will see Finland procure new fighters to replace its ageing fleet of Hornet jets at a cost of €7bn-10bn.