News I DSEi 2013 review
Selling weapons ‘a top priority’ according to defence secretary
Last month saw the biennial Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEi) trade show at London’s ExCel centre in Docklands. This year’s event was, according to the show’s organisers, the biggest ever with over 1300 exhibitors in attendance and some 30,000 visitors.
Whatever your take on the defence
industry, and critics refer to DSEi as little more than a shop window for the arms industry, the event is a major showcase for military and security companies. It’s truly an international show and over 40 countries were represented this year, including Russia and Israel, who had their own national pavilions.
and show the latest high-tech developments and the number of niche, high-tech companies at the event was significantly up on previous years, with DSEi offering a comprehensive showcase of electronics and electronic warfare. According to Linear Technology’s
European Marketing Manager - Military and Aerospace, Steve Munns, DSEI 2013 was, "A bigger and better event and the breadth of equipment and technology on show was impressive. We established plenty of new contacts with both the major defence players and a great many smaller companies who were exhibiting. I picked up a sense of positive determination to
It has a high brightness display, iconic
reference symbology and is easy for the wearer to use. It comes in a left eye configuration so that the right eye is free for looking through a weapon sight, although this can be altered accordingly for ambidextrous weapons.
Cassidian, the defence division of EADS, unveiled a new capability for battlefield identification allowing combat aircraft and helicopters to reliably identify friendly forces in a pre-defined area before the use of weapons so avoiding friendly fire incidents. This enhancement, called Reverse IFF (RIFF), allows aircraft to locate friendly forces in a pre-defined ground area by emitting interrogation signals. Previously, aircraft only responded to enquiries sent from ground-based interrogators but had no technical means themselves to identify ground forces.
Speaking at the event Defence Secretary Hammond praised arms companies for building clusters around universities. “The industry's future lies in high-tech, heavily academic-linked, industrial technology, not in "high-volume metal bashing", he said. This year’s show saw a new security and special forces zone including drones, a
Converter, a manufacturer of modular power components. It used the show to unveil a new state-of-the-art family of configurable integrated power supplies - the GPACK - which can deliver up to 800 W without a fan in 24 – 28 VDC avionic, aerospace, military and missile applications. Commenting Serge Manele, the company’s VP Marketing and Sales, said “This is our first time at DSEi. We’ve identified the defence market as being very important to us and DSEi provides us with the showcase we need.”
Last year Amphenol launched a new RoHS compliant plating finish. At DSEi it was able to exhibit its range of MIL-DTL- 38999, Series III, Class Z approved and RoHS compliant plating interconnection alternatives to Cadmium. The company’s Black Zinc Nickel plating is now available on a wide variety of connectors and accessories including proprietary MIL-DTL-38999 and MIL-C- 26482 designs and this conductive and non-reflective finish is approved for 500hrs salt spray endurance and is, according to the company, fast becoming a new industry standard.
Chris Parsonage, the company’s Sales
Official guests included the governments of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya - all three countries are in the process of re-building their armed forces after recent conflicts in which Britain has played a part - and other attendees included significant purchasers of UK kit such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE. DSEi is supported politically, financially and logistically by the British government and the Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, praised the show and the ’fantastic kit’ on display. The UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO) is the government's arms sales unit and employs over 160 civil servants to promote sales of military and security equipment around the world and arrange trade missions to key markets.
Speaking at the show Hammond said that he would be chairing a new "cross- Whitehall" committee on weapons exports, adding that, "We are not ashamed of promoting responsible defence exports." The exhibition is a chance to network
6 October 2013
succeed in a tough market with greater emphasis on how to be more competitive at an international level and in particular how to develop the supply chain to strengthen collaboration on forward- looking areas of technology and platform architecture.”
Among the shows highlights was the launch by BAE Systems of the newest variant of its see-through helmet mounted display (HMD), the Q-Warrior, which is intended for soldiers operating in the field. Q-Warrior utilises Waveguide optical technology that stabilises the image for the user and reduces the SWaP of the system. According to BAE Systems’ Chris Colston, business development director, advanced displays and inceptors, “Q-Sight can provide enhanced situational awareness for land vehicles, and that brings us onto the dismounted soldier. A monocular, see through, line of sight collimated display is a very simple concept. Q-Warrior introduces colour for the first time and also free space tracking.”
Components in Electronics
touch of James Bond, with neckties harbouring hidden cameras and equipment to protect communications equipment from cyber attacks. Unlike in previous years there were many
more exhibitors that were smaller, niche, high-tech companies, but they were still overwhelmed by the stands of industry giants like Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Raytheon.
Among the smaller companies who were at DSEi for the first time was Gaia
and Marketing Director said, “Amphenol has invested heavily at our site in Whitstable in developing Black Zinc Nickel plating which now complies with the highest levels of environmental and electrical performance requirements.” Across DSEi 2013, whatever your views of the defence and security industry, the range of cutting edge products on display together with the technological innovations featured by electronics specialists was impressive. ■
www.cieonline.co.uk
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