INDODEFENCE - 2006

The second INDODEFENCE-2006 exhibition of military products for all the services of armed forces was held in Indonesia (Jakarta) from 22 till 25 November 2006.

Since the moment of its inauguration in 2004 the INDODEFENCE has been one of the biggest and most representative specialized exhibitions of weapons in the Asian-Pacific region. The INDODEFENCE is held once in two years under patronage of the MoD of Indonesia. Initially the exhibition had been established as a bridge between the European companies and their customers in South-East Asia.

More than 450 exhibitors from 30 countries participated in this event this year. The total area of exposition increased by 10% in comparison with the previous exhibition. National pavilions of Korea, Russia, Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, India, Singapore, Malaysia were the largest and most representative. Eighteen enterprises demonstrated their products at the Russian exposition.

The exhibition was attended by 12,000 people including official delegations of ministries and departments from 45 countries of the world as well as MoD high-ranking representatives of most of the countries of South-East and South Asia and the Middle East. As it was noted by the press service, the number of official delegations visited the exhibition proves that the image of the INDODEFENCE-2006 becomes very high in this region.

Many specialists consider the INDODEFENCE-2006 an important event for the world military industry in respect to both development of technologies, innovations and cooperation and further world market division and penetration by the most prominent designers and manufacturers of weapons.

Representatives of more than 35 foreign mass media were accredited at the exhibition. Russia was represented by the ITAR-TASS, ARMS-TASS, Interfax, RIA Novosti news agencies and the NTV television channel. Conferences dedicated to armament, some seminars and press-conferences of enterprises were held during the exhibition.

The Russian exposition at the INDODEFENCE-2006 was arranged under the Rosoboronexport aegis. Eighteen Russian enterprises presented their products. The exposition included more than 300 samples of weapons and military equipment presented as models, size-weight mockups, posters, charts and video films.

The Russian exposition was actively visited and aroused the keenest interest of potential customers.

The KBP booth was attended by representatives of governments, MoDs and other governmental and industrial organizations both from Indonesia and other countries. They showed great interest in KBP products. The KBP booth attracted Russian and foreign mass media.

KBP Instrument Design Bureau had a 30 m² booth in an indoor pavilion as a part of the common Russian exposition. Small arms, grenade launchers, ATGWs, artillery guided weapons, air-defence systems and upgrade package for armoured vehicles, which KBP offers for export, were presented as mockups, models and posters. Films about the exhibits were also being shown.

During conversations with foreign specialists KBP representatives explained technical performances of the exhibited weapons. Special attention was drawn to the advantages of KBP weapons over foreign ones as well as to the right of independent military technical cooperation with foreign countries.

The visitors showed the greatest interest in the Metis-M1 and Kornet-E ATGWs, the Pantsir-S1 air-defence system, armoured vehicles upgrade, the GSh-18 pistol, PP-2000 submachine-gun, GM-94 magazine grenade-launcher, AGS-30 automatic grenade-launcher system with the GPD-30 round and in grenade-launchers and small arms as a whole.

During the exhibition several meetings were held at the highest level between KBP representatives and MoD high-ranking representatives of Indonesia and other countries. KBP conducted presentations of its weapons for the Indonesian army, navy and air forces. The KBP delegation was invited for a meeting with Indonesian minister of defence Juvono Sudarsono, who thanked KBP for participation in the exhibition and expressed the interest of the MoD of Indonesia in some of the KBP-designed weapon systems. He also told about the intention of the Indonesian MoD to include some of the KBP weapons into the armament acquisition programme within the framework of the credit granted by Russia to Indonesia.

KBP exposition was acknowledged to be one of the best at the INDODEFENCE-2006. Out of the 18 enterprises participated in the exhibition under the Rosoboronexport aegis only KBP demonstrated live samples of its weapon systems: the Metis-M1, Kornet-E and AGS-30. According to experts, it was the KBP booth that aroused the highest interest of foreign visitors in the Russian pavilion.