Collins to team with Saudi firm to make combat drones

Collins Aerospace, the largest employer in Cedar Rapids, has signed an agreement with a Saudi Arabian firm to develop combat drones for the kingdom’s military.

A memorandum of understanding was signed Tuesday during the International Defense Exhibition and Conference 2023 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Collins will provide its expertise in unmanned aerial system integration to SRB Aerial Systems to assist in developing the advanced drones, according to a Collins Aerospace news release.

The new drone was showcased at the expo at the stand manned by Raytheon, the parent company of Collins Aerospace, according to the breakingdefense.com site.

“This partnership is a key step in supporting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 to bring locally owned and manufactured products” to the kingdom, said Colin Mahoney, president of customer and account management at Collins Aerospace.

Maj. Gen. (ret.) Ahmed Al-Jehani, CEO of SRB, said the company and Collins “will develop the framework to support research and development of strategic UAS (unmanned aerial systems) and robotic technologies for the Saudi forces as we ambition to grow our offering with UAS weapons and urban air mobility solutions.”

SRB Aerial Systems is a leader in design, development and production of unmanned aerial system products, the release said.

Collins will be working with SRB on a trial flight in the second quarter of this year, with the drone system ready for production in 2024, Al-Jehani said.

As one of the only drone manufacturers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, SRB Company has a goal of providing 100 percent locally owned and manufactured unmanned flight systems to the country.

Collins’ experience in producing “cost-effective mission systems hardware and software will be critical assets in developing the drone technology,” according to the news release.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.