The International Defense Exhibition and Conference, (IDEX) held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, announced the line-up for the 2nd Gulf Defense Conference (GDC).

Organized by the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), the GDC is the official conference of IDEX 2013 and will take place Saturday, February 16th at the Armed Forces Officer’s Club, Abu Dhabi.

Leading the conference with keynote speeches will be France’s Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian and the British Deputy Minister of Defense for Defense Equipment, Support and Technology Philip Dunne.

“The GDC is a key opportunity for Abu Dhabi to host industry and government thought leaders addressing critical areas of industry development,” said Major General Obaid Al Ketbi, Head of the 2013 IDEX Higher Organizing Committee.

“As the official conference of IDEX, the GDC helps reinforce Abu Dhabi’s position as a major hub within the global defense industry while addressing issues key to sustainable regional security. It is our honor to host the event’s guests, and we look forward to a successful conference in the coming weeks,” Al Ketbi added.

“GDC 2013 will be a two-star-General-plus event, which makes it the highest level conference to be ever held on the side of an international trade show,” said Riad Kahwaji, CEO of INEGMA. “With an expected full house of over 500 top Defense Commanders including Ministers of Defense, Chiefs of Staff, Land Forces and Naval Commanders from around the world, the event will likely be the most important defense gathering in the region this year.”

“Advanced technologies are playing an increasingly central role ensuring national defense and security. While technologies like unmanned systems and network centric architecture are changing the face of modern defense, these are just tools no better than their implementation. Analysis and discussion of industry best practice are critical to ensuring intelligent and successful advancement across all areas of land, air and sea defense,” said John M. Urias, President, Oshkosh Defense and host of the first panel discussion New Paradigms in Land Warfare.

Distinguished GDC participants will include Lieutenant General Vincent Brooks, Commanding General of the US Third Army; Staff Major General Ali Mohammed Subaih Al Kaabi (photo), Military Advisor to H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed AL Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces; Major General (HEA) Nikolaos Zachariadis, Chief of Staff, NATO Rapid Deployable Corps, Greece (NRDC-GR); Lieutenant General André Blattmann, Chief of the Armed Forces, Switzerland; General Cho Jung-Hwan, Army Chief of Staff, South Korea; Major General Leszek Cwojdzinski, Director of the Armaments Policy Department, Ministry of Defense, Poland; Vice Admiral Marin Gillier, Commander of Indian Ocean Maritime Zone, France; Vice Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi, Chief of Staff of the Navy, Italy; and Vice Admiral Mohammad Shafiq, Vice Chief of Naval Staff, Pakistan.

The conference will be split into three main themes covering New Paradigms in Land Warfare, Future Air Power Transformations and Naval Force Projection and Future Maritime Operations. The land warfare section will address the successful integration of technology to ensure force mobility and the impact of the changing nature of warfare on unified land operations. The session will also cover best practices from the UAE on the role of the military in humanitarian relief and peacekeeping operations.

The section on future air power defense will address integration of Unmanned Ariel Vehicles to effectively serve current and emerging trends. The panel will also include discussions on how air defense can best be optimized to reinforce ground and naval force operations.

The final section on naval defense will focus on future naval operating environments, multi-mission optimization for current forces, and effective integration of future stealth and unmanned equipment.