Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC) announced the agenda for the Gulf Defense Conference (GDC) to be held at the Armed Forces Officers’ Club (AFOC) in Abu Dhabi on Saturday 19th February 2011, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE.

The GDC, organized by INEGMA (Institute for Near East & Gulf Military Analysis) on behalf of ADNEC, is the official conference of IDEX – the Middle East & North Africa region’s largest tri-service defense show.

With the GCC region investing heavily in defence and security to protect from continuing security concerns across the region, the 2011 Gulf Defence Conference has been designed to examine some of the latest trends whilst also taking a fresh look at some of the more intractable challenges.

The GDC plenary sessions will be delivered by international experts and include an examination of: The evolution of network-centric operations; Enhancing and developing civil-military relations for the asymmetric warfare environment, and; Future artillery – striking the right balance in mobility, reactivity and firepower.

This will be followed by a session that will take a closer look at the latest trends in naval warfare including: Low intensity surface and underwater naval warfare and the potential challenges faced by GCC states; UAVs in sea operations for offensive and defensive missions, and; harnessing new technologies for countermining operations.

Finally, moving from operations to approaches to improving force readiness, the third and final session will look at: The evolving role of close-in air support in Joint combat operations; Building modern armoured vehicles by maintaining the triangular balance of protection, mobility and firepower, and; simulated training - the evolving and future role of technology in infantry and armour training.