His Excellency the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Mr. Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef, witnessed the signing ceremony of a memorandum of cooperation between Qassim University and United Defense Company, to establish an advanced innovation factory for manufacturing unmanned aircraft systems within the university's lands, within the framework of the "Rafid" program launched by the Ministry, in the presence of His Excellency the University President, Prof. Dr. Mohammed bin Fahad Al-Sharekh, HE the Secretary General of the Council for University Affairs, Prof. Bassam bin Abdullah Al-Bassam, and HE the Vice President for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research, Dr. Walid bin Saleh Al-Battah at the Ministry's headquarters in Riyadh.

The agreement was signed by the Dean of the College of Engineering, Prof. Abdulrahman bin Ibrahim Al-Attiyah, and the CEO of the company, Mr. Bassem bin Abdullah Al-Mohammadi, in an effort to activate the cooperation agreement that was recently signed between the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources and the university.

The Rafid program aims to develop effective partnerships with a number of academic institutions to enhance the utilization of innovations and research in the field of advanced manufacturing, especially in the promising sectors targeted in the National Industrial Strategy, and contribute to the qualification of national capabilities in education, training, research and development, and innovation.