From 15-18 September, London’s Docklands will again play host to the biennial Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEi) exhibition – the UK’s largest tri-service industry gathering.
To be staged at the ExCel centre, the show is set to attract around 1,500 exhibitors from more than 50 countries, including almost 450 who will be appearing for the first time. It is expected to draw in the region of 32,000 visitors from 150 nations: about the same as in 2013, the event’s organiser says.
Clarion Defence and Security chairman Simon Williams says that this year’s show will be staged against a backdrop of uncertainty and instability in Europe – a reference to to the current tension between NATO nations and Russia following the latter’s annexation of eastern Ukraine. Noting that some countries including Norway, Poland and the Baltic states are moving to increase their defence spending in response, Williams says “there is a real change afoot”.
“DSEi in 2015 is showing strong interest from around the globe,” Williams said during a 7 July media briefing in London. Forty international pavilions will be located among its exhibits, and new participants are coming from nations including China, India, Israel, Pakistan and Taiwan. “They want to be here, because they want to do business,” he adds.
Unmanned systems are a focus of the event, and the British Army's Watchkeeper will be on display
Thales
The exhibition space will be divided into six dedicated zones: air, land, maritime, medical innovation, security and special forces, and unmanned systems.
While the only aircraft flying over the Docklands site will be those on approach to or departing from the nearby London City airport, several military types will be on static display.
These will include a Royal Air Force Westland Sea King HAR3/3A search and rescue helicopter, which will be appearing at its last DSEi ahead of retirement, plus one of the Royal Navy’s AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin HM2s. An AgustaWestland Wildcat, British Army Boeing/AgustaWestland Apache AH1 and an RAF Airbus Helicopters Puma HC2 will also be present, as will a full-scale replica of the Eurofighter Typhoon.
“The display of fixed- and rotary-wing military aircraft will surpass the 2013 edition,” Clarion says, addin that the air zone will be “notably larger” this time.
The unmanned systems sector – one of the long-time focal points of DSEi – will again be a prominent area of attention, with two days of presentations to explore “the latest capabilities, technologies and innovations”. These will include discussions about advances in airspace regulation, sense and avoid equipment, test and evaluation activities and manned-unmanned teaming concepts of operation.
Unmanned aircraft to be displayed will include the British Army’s Watchkeeper and the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle. Both types have entered frontline use since the 2013 show, with the latter in operation with the RN under a contractor-owned, contractor-operated agreement with Boeing Defence UK.
Beyond the equipment on display within ExCel’s north and south halls, the event will also feature multiple daily briefings in its seven seminar theatres, including keynote addresses from the UK’s service chiefs and defence ministers. Their comments will be closely scrutinised, as the event falls around a month ahead of the publication of the nation’s second Strategic Defence and Security Review in October. In total, more than 300 speakers will give presentations during the show.
A pre-event strategic conference held on the same site on 14 September will look at the future of the military rotorcraft sector. Supported by the UK’s Joint Helicopter Command, this will focus on long-term requirements, such as those in the early stages of being defined for the US Army’s Future Vertical Lift programme.
Clarion event director Duncan Reid says that the coming show will be “bigger and better” than in 2013, adding: “we should top that.”
Source: FlightGlobal.com
