Together with our strategic partners, GCS attended the 15th edition of the International Defence Exhibition (IDEX) this February. The five-day event was hosted in Abu Dhabi and welcomed more than 60,000 local and international participants and was the first global defence event to take place since the pandemic began.
Rigorous health protocols
As the first event of this scale to take place since the start of the pandemic, uncertainties and restrictions were to be expected. The IDEX organisers and local authorities did everything they could to ensure that the event could go ahead in a safe and professional manner. A wide range of precautionary protocols were rigorously implemented across the IDEX infrastructure, providing participants exhibitors and visitors the assurance and confidence that the event had health and safety as its number one priority. Negative test results not older than 48 hours were required to enter the venue and several PCR testing centers provided free on-site testing. “The dedicated effort on behalf of everyone involved meant that IDEX could go ahead successfully, despite the global challenges and restrictions,” said Philipp von Michaelis, CEO of GCS.
The EOD/IEDD Centre of Excellence
This year, GCS collaborated with three of our strategic partners, Comlab, BSST and Drakon to create a theme-based ‘EOD/IEDD Centre of Excellence’. Our joint team of experts welcomed hundreds of guests at our stand throughout the week from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Pakistan, Kuwait, and many other countries. The team demonstrated a wide array of technological and operational solutions specifically engineered for explosive threat mitigation, including remote-controlled, multi-purpose platforms, customised attachments and tools, jamming applications, as well as personal protection solutions and EOD medical kits.
End-to-End Solutions for the region
The ‘Centre of Excellence’ model was very well received because attendees were extremely interested in end-to-end solutions for their mine breaching and clearance operations, military engineering and EOD/IEDD tasks.
“The event gave our team the wonderful opportunity to have constructive face-to-face meetings and confirmed that solutions against the threat from IEDs and other explosive ordnance are in great demand in the region,” added von Michaelis. “Consequently, we look forward to enhancing our presence in the UAE in the near future, which will enable us to be even closer to our customers,” he said.
The whole GCS team would like to give a heartfelt thanks to everybody involved for overcoming all the obstacles and making this event such a huge success!