Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — Northrop Grumman – one of the world leaders when it comes to aerospace, defense, cyber security, command and control, unmanned aircraft, logistics, supply chains and advanced security – underscores the importance of collaborating with the government, local communities and organizations to be successful.

Walid Abukhaled, the Chief Executive of Northrop Grumman in the Middle East, told the Saudi Gazette on the sidelines of the 2nd International Conference on C4I Solutions, Alliance against Terrorism in Riyadh, that "to be successful and to have the proper growth, you need to work with the government, local communities and organizations, and with the people." He added that “throughout the forty years, we wanted strong presence in the Kingdom since it is considered one of the best markets worldwide.”

Moreover, the company also engaged with King Saud University to contribute to the strong systems made to increase awareness of cyber-attacks among students, "We initially worked with King Saud University since 3-4 years ago so that they have a center called "Advanced C4I Command and Control" and that is really an area where we have a major role. We discussed with them the possible ways of raising awareness about the importance of cyber, command and control. This because command and control C4I is known as a term for saving lives in conflicts and can protect people from possible threats. The idea of making a conference came with a purpose of bringing the right people to exchange information in a way that can draw the interests of the society and its people. It was a national conference and it was successful. We saw many government authorities appreciate the role we play and willing to cooperate with us," he explained.

Their ambition did not stop at this point, it was just the beginning, "We then, in collaboration with King Saud University, had the ambition to elevate the conference. The dream became a reality 2 years later when the national conference became international with international participants talking about latest technology. Surely, we achieved all this with the unwavering support of HRH the Crown Prince who patronized the conference. His patronage means a lot to us. We also had a national competition, which is called Cyber Arabia. It is about bringing male and female students to compete on how to prevent cyber-attacks. We gave them a system where they had to protect from attacks. We had winners and the Minister of Telecommunication gave the awards. King Saud University is very active on cyber security and on increasing awareness in this regard. We have seen many KSU students asking deep intelligent questions," he added.

He concluded by expressing hope of expansion. "We are optimistic and keen on continuing our long term presence in the Kingdom. The Saudi market is one the best markets globally."

The Conference was under the patronage of the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and was held recently at King Saud University in Riyadh.