The 13th edition of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference, IDEX and 4th Naval Defence Exhibition (NAVDEX), concluded with a cumulative of 90 deals worth over AED 19 billion ($5.21 billion) signed to buy arms and defence systems for the UAE Armed Forces.
Held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, the event was organised in association and with the full support of the UAE Armed Forces, from February 19 to 23, at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.
NAVDEX held alongside IDEX, featured a purpose built exhibition hall, ADNEC Marina for visiting naval ships, a pontoon for small crafts, daily water demonstrations and an outdoor display area.
On the final day, eight new deals worth over AED 344 million ($94.3 million) were signed, Naval Staff Colonel Fahed Nasser Al Thehli, Official Spokesperson of NAVDEX, announced at the daily regular press briefing.
He said that five of the deals were signed with the national companies and remaining three with international companies. Staff Brigadier-General Rashid Mohammed Al Shamsi, Official Spokesperson of IDEX 2017 was also present.
Naval Staff Colonel Fahed Nasser Al Thehli announced the following UAE Armed Forces contracts: An AED 30 million contract was signed with the UAE based company, International Golden Group (IGG), to supply metal sheets in order to repair airport runways. A deal worth over AED 25.8 million was sealed with the UAE based company, Sony Solutions, to equip the new media centre with technical and engineering works.
A contract worth AED 10 million was concluded with UAE based company Mohamed Abdulrahman Al-Bahar for maintenance and repair works for Caterpillar machinery. UAE Armed Forces also penned a contract valued over AED 55 million with the Turkish company, FNSS Savunma Sistemleri A.S., to provide technical support.
A deal was concluded with Beltech Export FZE, a Belarusian company, for AED 110 million to provide technical support to the UAE forces.
The spokesman announced that an AED 45 million worth contract was signed with the UAE based company, Tasneef, to technically support all classification procedures. A contract valued at AED 58.8 million was signed with the UAE based company Emirates Centre for Al Imdad, to provide technical and logistical support to UAE Armed Forces.
A contract valued AED 9. 2 million was sealed with the German based company, IMS High- Tech, to purchase ammunition for the UAE Armed Forces.
Staff Brigadier-General Rashid Mohammed Al Shamsi, also announced that the UAE Armed Forces signed three contracts with NIMR Automotive for 1,750 armoured vehicles.
NIMR will deliver 1,500 JAIS 4x4 and 6x6 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as more than 150 HAFEET 630A artillery support vehicles in both Observation and Command and Control configurations and 115 AJBAN 440A vehicles equipped with anti-tank guided missile systems to the UAE Armed Forces from 2018.
The first four days were split as follows: on day one, 21 deals worth more than AED 4.416 billion were signed. Day two witnessed 10 deals worth more than AED 6.9 billion. Day three witnessed 31 deals worth more than AED 4 billion. Day four witnessed 20 deals worth more than AED 3.4 billion were signed.
National companies accounted for 63.4% of total IDEX transactions, noted Naval Staff Colonel Fahed Nasser Al Thehli.
The 14th edition of IDEX, and the 5th edition of NAVDEX, will be held from 17-21February 2019.
