Saudi Arabia Expanding Ballistic Missile Plant to Build Larger, Longer-Range Weapons, Satellite Images Suggest
Saudi Arabia is likely expanding its ballistic missile plant so it can build larger solid-fuel missiles, according to two US researchers who analysed more than a year of commercial satellite imagery. Reuters reported the findings in a special report on Friday.
According to the researchers, such missiles would be able to travel farther or carry heavier payloads — weapons or other equipment.
Missiles with such advanced capability could help Saudi Arabia deter attacks from Iran and make its armed forces more self-reliant. At the same time, they could strengthen Saudi Arabia's position in its ongoing conflict with the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
However, the development could raise the risk of a missile race in the region. It could also intensify concerns within the US Congress about a civilian nuclear agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia, particularly regarding the spread of nuclear technology.
US-based satellite company Planet Labs collected images of the al-Dawadmi complex, located about 125 miles west of Riyadh, covering the period from April 2025 to September 2026.
Sam Lair and Michael Duitsman, researchers at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, analysed those images and said a new building can be seen there. Inside the building is a casting pit — a special pit where a mixture of fuel material is poured into a missile motor casing and left to harden.
The Saudi embassy and the information ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
In their assessment, Lair and Duitsman said the building is surrounded by walls apparently designed to protect nearby structures from an accidental explosion. The building is at least twice as large as the facility believed to house the current missile casting pit.
They said a second new building may be used to store fuel ingredients or finished missile components. In their view, the images show Saudi Arabia is expanding the infrastructure of its missile production complex.
Militaries prefer solid-fuel missiles because they can be stored for long periods and launched much faster than liquid-fuel missiles.
Lair and Duitsman, along with experts from the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies and the research organisation CNA, told Reuters that the structure of Saudi Arabia's missile force suggests the al-Dawadmi complex relies on Chinese technology. According to Lair and Duitsman, the complex's features resemble those of China's missile factories.
According to a declassified 1991 CIA document, Saudi Arabia secretly acquired about 40 liquid-fuel DF-3 ballistic missiles from China in 1987. Two of those missiles were first displayed publicly in images from a military parade in April 2014.
The research team also recently analysed videos and images circulating on social media and identified debris in Yemen. In their assessment, it is the wreckage of a Chinese-designed DF-15 missile fired by Saudi Arabia.
