{"id":14488,"date":"2021-02-22T16:29:42","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T16:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/02\/22\/who-showed-up-for-the-in-person-uae-weapons-show\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:26:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:26:51","slug":"who-showed-up-for-the-in-person-uae-weapons-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/idex\/2021\/02\/22\/who-showed-up-for-the-in-person-uae-weapons-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Who showed up for the in-person UAE weapons show?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates \u2014 In spite of the surging coronavirus pandemic<\/a>, major arms makers descended Sunday on a convention center in Abu Dhabi<\/a>, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, hoping to make deals with militaries across the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UAE unveiled $1.36 billion in local and foreign arms deals to supply its forces with everything from South African drones to Serbian artillery. Although the figure surpasses the 2019 show\u2019s opening announcement, defense experts anticipate a drop in military spending this year as the pandemic and slumping global oil prices squeeze budgets in the Arabian Gulf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biennial trade fair, the International Defence Exhibition and Conference, is Abu Dhabi\u2019s first major in-person event since the outbreak of the virus \u2014 a sign of its significance to the oil-rich sheikhdom that has maintained tight movement restrictions in recent months. The videoconferencing program Zoom wouldn\u2019t suffice for the 70,000 attendees and 900 exhibitors who rely on the largest weapons expo in the Mideast to scout for potential clients and hawk their latest wares, from armored vehicles<\/a> to ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top Emirati officials, including Abu Dhabi\u2019s powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, were on hand, wandering between displays of rifles, rockets and bombs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with hand sanitizer as ubiquitous as sterile drone displays, the pandemic\u2019s effects remained visible. Significant national pavilions were absent, including the United States, the world\u2019s largest arms exporter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big American companies turned up but kept a low profile. Lockheed Martin representatives standing beside models of stealth F-35 fighters were tight-lipped amid the Biden administration\u2019s review of several major foreign arms sales<\/a> initiated by former President Donald Trump, including a massive $23 billion transfer of the F-35s<\/a> to the UAE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli COVID restrictions also prevented it<\/a> from joining the expo, which would have been a first after it normalized relations with the UAE last year. A technician at the Israel Aerospace Industries booth spent a good portion of the afternoon turning away disappointed potential customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But scores of other countries had no qualms showing up during the pandemic, underscoring how many have boosted their arms exports in the region. The flow of weapons in the Middle East has increased by 61 percent over the past five years, according to a recent report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, amid grinding proxy wars in Libya, Syria and Yemen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

China, which boasts the world\u2019s second-largest arms-manufacturing industry, enticed passers-by with a real-sized ballistic missile called Fire Dragon. At state-owned Norinco, business manager Luo Haopeng remarked that China had increased its floor space this year. Beyond his company \u201cserving\u201d Emirati ground forces, he declined to elaborate on its ambitions in the Middle East, where China has already has sold armed drones to Iraq, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis kind of equipment is not like food or clothes,\u201d he said, gesturing toward the giant missile display. \u201cIt\u2019s all related to politics.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\t