Agence France-Presse,
Abu Dhabi: The Middle East's biggest arms show opened on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, covering a larger area than ever in defiance of the global credit crisis that has hit the weapons-buying power of Gulf states.
From handheld stun and smoke grenades to fearsome armoured vehicles, a full range of deadly armaments is on display in the International Defence Exhibition and Conference on a site the size of around 15 football pitches.
Nearly 900 exhibitors from 50 countries are taking part in the biennial event which has expanded since the last time it was held, in 2007, with extra features including a newly-dredged area of quay for warships and naval craft.
The show, expected to attract some 45,000 trade visitors over five days, kicked off with a military display, including an aerial performance by UAE airforce Mirage and F-16 fighters.
Eye-catching exhibits include the traditional US-made M-16 personal machine gun to a British-made Vanguard remote operated vehicle — a robot used to search for and defuse explosives.
On other stands are a wide collection of personnel carriers, including the US-made Humvee, and armoured vehicles, like BAE Systems CV9035 infantry fighting vehicle.
The fair takes place amid the continuing global economic slowdown, which has triggered a plunge of more than two-thirds in oil prices since July, sharply reducing the revenues of the oil-rich Gulf Arab states, heavy spenders on arms.
But show participant Magnus Forsberg, a marketing executive at BAE Systems, said the economic criss has so far not affected sales.
“We haven't noticed any ups and downs in spending,” he told AFP.
The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — are expected to spend around 59 billion dollars on defence in 2009, according to a January report by US consultants Forecast International, cited in IDEX publicity material.
The UAE placed orders worth 918.2 million dollars in military equipment during the previous edition of IDEX in 2007, while it bought defence systems worth 1.85 billion dollars in IDEX 2005.
The Gulf Arab monarchies are traditionally keen on maintaining strong defence systems, as they are neighbours of Iran, which is believed to be pursuing an active weapons programme.
They are also staunch allies of the United States, whose Fifth Fleet uses Bahrain as a base, and which led the coalition to liberate Kuwait from Saddam's Iraqi troops in 1991.
