The 15^th edition of the International Defence Exhibition (IDEX) and the Naval Defence Exhibition (NAVDEX), held between February 21 and 25 at Abu Dhabi’s ADNEX expo centre, attracted 900 exhibitors from 59 countries, and 35 international pavilions. Five countries participated in the two expos for the first time: Israel, North Macedonia, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Azerbaijan. Close to 50 Israeli companies were set to attend, but only about 20 per cent of them made it, including RAFAEL Advanced defence Systems, the Avnon Group (showcasing its anti-drone technologies), and small-arms manufacturer Emtan.

Iran’s Kaman family of UAVs[

China had a major presence at IDEX, with its prominent exhibits being the HJ-12 manportable anti-armour guided-missile, the SR-5 multi-barrel rocket launcher, CM-501GA multi-purpose tactical strike missile, WS-43 loitering munition, Hongdu L-15 lead-in fighter trainer, the Chai Hong family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for reconnaissance, and the Wing Loong-II armed UAV. Both types of UAVs have been procured in modest numbers by the armed forces of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Recently, Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with Sichuan Tengoen Technology to locally produce its TB-001 UAV as the Al Eqab-1. Ironically, China has also been the sole supplier of various types of armed and unarmed UAVs to Iran, including the Kaman family of UAVs that were recently rolled out by Teheran.