November 6 – 9, 2017 “League of Defense Companies of Ukraine” took part in the international exhibition of weapons “Defense and Security-2017”, held in Bangkok

“Defense and Security” is an exhibition of weapons and military equipment held in Thailand on odd years. It is held under the patronage of the Government and the Ministry of Defense of Thailand and has its beginning since 1985, traditionally collecting the leading manufacturers and customers of weapons and military equipment of the ground forces, navy, aviation and air defense. Initially, the exhibition was simply called “Defense”, but in 2007 the word “Security” was added to the name of the exhibition, which was due to the growth of world needs in modern and highly effective means of countering terrorists.

In terms of its scale (13 500 sq. M of exhibition space, just over 300 exhibiting companies), “Defense and Security” belongs to the category of “strong middle peasants”, but due to a good timing (non-intersection with the center in the Asian region by the DSA exhibition in Malaysia, which takes place in even-numbered years), it becomes central at this time in the region and attracts a relatively large number of visitors.
This factor, along with the fact that Thailand recently began to actively purchase precisely Ukrainian equipment (BTR-3 / BTR-4 armored vehicles, T-84 tanks, Barrier anti-tank missile systems) determined the decision of the League to participate in this exhibition.

Participation took place in the form of a joint stand of the League with an area of ​​48 sq.m., at which were presented:
1) All companies of the League through:
– demonstration of the general “film of the League” on the big screen
– distribution of general catalogs of the League in hard copy and in the form of gift flash cards
– distribution of catalogs of companies-participants of the League at the general reception
– consultation of the employee of the League at the general reception, if there is an interest in the specific products of a particular firm of the League

individual companies:
2) The company “Dolya and Co. Ltd.”, represented by a separate table with products and employees
3) The company “UkrInnMash”, represented by posters and its employees
4) The company “Sparring-Vist Center”, represented by a separate table with products, posters and its employees

5) Company “Practika”, represented by mock-ups of cars and its employee (1 person).

6) «TehImpex» Company, represented by models of cars / combat module and its employees (3 people).

At the beginning of the first day of the exhibition, right after the official opening ceremony, the stand was visited by a delegation of Ukraine headed by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Poltorak S.T. and the first deputy head of the RNBO of Ukraine O. Gladkovsky.

In the future, there was mainly a stream of separate groups of visitors with specific questions. The flow was fairly stable throughout the four days, except for the last day, when activity naturally decreased.
The stand of the League was quite active and here the role was played, firstly, by the diversity of the companies represented in the directions, and secondly, the location of the stand, which was directly selected in front of the stand of UkrOboronProm, which allowed them to visually unite them into a single common exposition of Ukraine.

It is important to note the fact that is typical for regional exhibitions in general – although the total number and intensity of visitors was less than those at the largest Eurosatory and IDEX exhibitions, their “quality” was higher due to the fact that there were practically no onlookers and most visitors were strictly with business proposals or inquiries. In general, they can be divided into the following groups:

1) Official delegations of the armed forces (Thailand and other countries). Among them, a special interest in the products of the League was expressed by:
– Delegation of the Ministry of Defense of Thailand
– Thai Air Force delegation
– Tanzanian Army delegation
– Myanmar Army delegation

In the future, there was mainly a stream of separate groups of visitors with specific questions. The flow was fairly stable throughout the four days, except for the last day, when activity naturally decreased.
The stand of the League was quite active and here the role was played, firstly, by the diversity of the companies represented in the directions, and secondly, the location of the stand, which was directly selected in front of the stand of UkrOboronProm, which allowed them to visually unite them into a single common exposition of Ukraine.

It is important to note the fact that is typical for regional exhibitions in general – although the total number and intensity of visitors was less than those at the largest Eurosatory and IDEX exhibitions, their “quality” was higher due to the fact that there were practically no onlookers and most visitors were strictly with business proposals or inquiries. In general, they can be divided into the following groups:

1) Official delegations of the armed forces (Thailand and other countries). Among them, a special interest in the products of the League was expressed by:
– Delegation of the Ministry of Defense of Thailand
– Thai Air Force delegation
– Tanzanian Army delegation
– Myanmar Army delegation

4) Potential buyers. Along with the agents, there was a fairly large number of final buyers interested in buying directly. Here it is especially possible to highlight the interest of buyers from the following countries:
– India
– Bangladesh
– Myanmar
– Turkey
– Singapore

5) Potential suppliers of components. Since the presented companies of the League were mostly producers of final products, they naturally attracted suppliers of components.
In particular, “Practice” held negotiations with suppliers:
– systems of internal negotiations
– thermal imaging cameras
– run-flat-inserts

“Sparring Vista Center” held negotiations with suppliers:
– specialized cases for radio devices
“Tekhimpex” held negotiations with suppliers:
– fire extinguishing systems
– systems of internal negotiations
– gyroscopes for combat modules

6) Specialized publications. Due to the status of the League as a representative of private defense companies of Ukraine, its stand attracted interest from specialized publications that were interested in obtaining information about the League for further publication. As a result, agreements were reached on articles about the League or its individual companies in the following editions:
– Army Recognition (Belgium)
– Mittler Report (England)
– Monch Publishing Group (Germany)
– Lak Mueng Journal (Thailand)

It is especially important to note that during the exhibition the active work was led by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the League, ex-Prime Minister of Ukraine Yekhanurov Yu.I. Particularly important was his role during the visit of official delegations.

In conclusion, it can be summed up that the League’s work on “Defense and Security-2017” can be considered successful and, in combination with equally positive experience from participation in the Turkish exhibition IDEF-2017, one can draw a conclusion about the practical usefulness of representing the League at regional exhibitions.

In this regard, for the year 2018 the following exhibitions are offered for participation:

Defexpo India 2018 (February 21 – 24, India, Quitol) – the largest post-DSA exhibition of the defense industry in Asia

DSA 2018 (April 16 – 19, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur) is one of the world’s five largest military technology exhibitions

AAD 2018 (September 19 – September 23, South Africa, Pretoria) – the largest defense industry exhibition in Africa