Arms Fairs
Arms fairs are held all over the world where companies exhibit all types of military, security and policing weapons and equipment, from fighter jets and water cannon to assault rifles and ammunition. They are designed to give companies the opportunity to showcase their weapons and for dealers and traders to meet with military delegations and governments from all over the world and arrange deals. Over the years, these fairs have grown in number and size. Between 2010 and 2014 for example, African Aerospace and Defence grew from 284 to 403 exhibitors, IWA in Germany grew from 1145 to 1355 exhibitors and Eurosatory in France grew from 1371 to 1478 exhibitors. This is mirrored by both the growth of military and policing equipment sales and the desire to sell domestically produced weapons to the international market.
The fairs can be a useful source of information for researchers with information such as exhibitor lists available on exhibition websites, details of new equipment and deals on company websites, and reports and photographs of new weapons in the trade press. We have extensive information on various fairs in our archive.
This map shows various arms fairs around the world hover over one of the pins and click to find out about the fair. We are developing this resource to include further information such past exhibitors lists and show reports – when available you will be able to find them under the 'more information' link. We will try to make all the exhibitors lists available in excel format for ease of use by other researchers – all the lists have been taken from the fair website or other materials published by the fair in question.
This is not an exhaustive list - so if you have any additions please contact us.
This fair is held biennially. There are approximately 450 exhibiting companies from over 30 countries.
ADAS held its first fair in 2014. There are companies exhibiting air, sea, and land defence technologies. It is held biennially.
ADEX (Azerbaijan International Defence Exhibition) held its second fair in 2016 and is held biennially. Generally, there are more than 200 exhibiting companies from 34 countries.
This fair is held biennially.
This is a conference and exhibition and is held annually.
This is a conference and exhibition and is held annually.
This fair is held biennially.
The first BIDEC was held in 2017.
This fair is held biennially.
This fair is held biennially. The majority of exhibitors are Chinese companies aiming to sell to Chinese public security bureaus.
This fair is held biennially. In 2015 there were 307 exhibitors of which 72 were from overseas.
This fair is held biennially.
Wide range of defence and security technologies on display: 250 exhibitors / 6000 SqM / 7000 professional attendees
This fair is held biennially. It focuses on sales to the ASEAN region.
This fair is held biennially.
This fair is held biennially, it is one of the larger arms fairs. In 2013 there were reportedly 1,489 exhibitors.
DSEI Japan will be organised by Crisis Intelligence & Clarion Events, and will take place for the first time at Makuhari Messe from November 18-20, 2019. The exhibition and associated conferences will run biennially thereafter, and in keeping with the themes of DSEI in London, DSEI Japan will cover all four domains of Land, Naval, Aviation and Security.
This is fair is held biennially. In 2015 it reportly had 1,103 exhhitors from 61 countries.
EDEX will take place for the first time in 2018.
Airshow with commercial and military exhibitors
This fair is held biennially. It focuses on policing and security equipment.
This is one of the larger fairs, in 2016 it had 1,572 exhibitors from 56 countries. It is held biennially.
This fair has been held biennially since 2009.
This large international aerospace exhibition and is held biennially.
This fair is held biennially. In 2014 there were 256 exhibitors.
This fair is held biennially.
This is one of the largest fairs, in 2015 there were 1,200 exhibitors from over 56 countries. It is held biennially.
This fair is held annually and focuses on security equipment.
This fair is held annually and focuses on security equipment.
This fair is held annually and focuses on security equipment.
This is a maratime defence exhibiton and is is held biennially.
This is and aerospace and defence fair and is held biennially
This is an aerospace and defence fair and is held biennially.
This fair is held annually. Whilst it has a large number of exhibitors focusing on hunting and sporting equipment there are a significant number of companies exhibiting policing equipment.
This fair is held annually. In 2016 there were 614 exhibitors from 30 countries.
Broad security and defence event
This fair is held biennially.