Comment by Dr. Ezio Bonsignore, Editor-in-Chief of MILITARY TECHNOLOGY

09:40 GMT, March 12, 2010 Irrespective of the legal reasons behind it, the demise of the Defendory defence exhibition in Athens after a successful career spanning three decades, with the organising company the Institute of Industrial Exhibitions being folded down, marks a veritable watershed and in a sense the end of an era in the global defence show circuit. Due to a variety of historical and commercial reasons, Defendory was not “a” and not even “a major”, but rather “the” quintessential international defence exhibition, and indeed the very event that started the whole contemporary circus.

Once upon a time, in a remote past many of you would not even remember, defence shows could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Further, events such as the British Army Equipment Exhibition in Aldershot or Italy’s Mostra Navale in Genoa were purely national and official affairs, organised by the Defence or/and Industry Ministry, the Armed Forces and the relevant industrial associations in order to push the export activities of their respective domestic defence companies. Participations to such events was strictly regulated, and while on occasions a few foreign companies would grindingly be allowed in due to their involvement in national programmes, it was not completely unheard of for even national actors being banned for this or that reason/pretext. And, of course, industries based in countries where defence shows could not be organised for political reasons were completely cut off any possibility of presenting their wares to an international audience, and looked at the existing foreign shows with salivating envy.

And then, back in 1980 the late Antonios Dimitropoulos came out with an intriguingly clever idea. An international defence exhibition, with no national or political restrictions and rather open to everybody but everybody who would be prepared to cough up the money to buy exhibiting space (even famously including South Africa, then under an UN embargo); an event held in a customer country/region, rather than on a manufacturers’ home turf, and thus arguably providing sort of a level playing field for all; and, yes, an industrial fair organised for profit by a private entrepreneur, although necessarily supported by the national political and military authorities.

Mr Dimitropoulos’ bold initiative was received with some initial perplexity and even stiff resistance in some circles, and Defendory admittedly had to iron out a couple of bugs in its first editions. But then, not only did Defendory quickly came to establish itself as a “you-cannot-possibly-miss-it” event - the whole underlying concept took the global defence community by storm. Defence exhibitions patterned on Defendory started to multiply all around the world like rabbits high on Viagra, with all of them vying and competing against each other for a slice of a rapidly growing business. Some shows were ingloriously folded down after a couple of botched attempts, but other endured and events organised for profits by private companies have since completely replaced the previous official shows, none of which survives in Europe. Even the admittedly perplexing notion of two when not three defence shows in the same country has taken of hold, and perhaps the vision of a Penguin Defence Exhibition in Antarctica is less preposterous than it might appear at first glance.

Industry has so far been largely willingly to keep funding the circus, which seems to suggest that even beyond industrial tourism considerations, defence shows do provide sort of a useful service. As regards Defendory in particular, its lasting validity is indirectly confirmed by it having survived until now despite the loss of its main original selling point (“a window on the Middle East market”) due to the emergence of competing exhibitions in the Middle East itself, and despite the roller-coaster of Greek defence procurement.

Given this, and given that the demise of Defendory has been brought upon by reasons that have nothing to do with an appreciation of its prospects for continuing commercial success, there is now the question of whether the notion of a defence show in Athens shall be laid to rest and quickly forgotten - or, rather, be revived and carried further forward, be this under the original or a new name. Indeed, a couple of competing attempts at claiming the Defendory legacy appear to be underway. But while arguably everybody in the global defence community would be glad to see a “new/post Defendory” show emerging and eventually assessing itself, things are not that simple. One might certainly be tempted to quickly step in and fill the sudden void left by the collapse of the Institute of Industrial Exhibitions before others can do the same, but if long-term success from both the organisers’ and the exhibitors’ points of view, then more mature consideration and careful planning would be required. This is not a business line where rush moves have high chances for success.

To start with, Greece is currently in the midst of a very major financial crisis, with the government being forced to introduce severe austerity measures that are strongly resisted by the population. Major (or even minor for than matters) defence acquisitions are quite clearly completely out of the question, while as indicated above Defendory over the past editions has been forced to place a progressively heavier emphasis on a Greek market, that has since all but evaporated. The “original” Defendory would most probably have been able to attract enough exhibitors to be commercially successful at its scheduled date this October, even under the current adverse circumstances, thanks to its exceedingly well established credentials and traditional flavour. However, those wishing to launch a successor event would be better advised to leave some breathing space to allow for the financial crisis to be hopefully solved , as well as for international defence companies to take the measure of both the new show and the prospective Greek market and decide whether or not they intend to participate.

Second and more important, there could be no question of organising a defence show, in Greece or conceivably in any other place on the face of Earth, without the full and uncompromised support by the national political and military authorities. Even apart from organisation aspects (starting most notably with security), such support is absolutely indispensable in order to guarantee that the show will attract adequate scores of qualified national and foreign visitors, both in uniform and in business suit. Industries will buy exhibiting space specifically in order to meet such visitors, and a defence show which cannot convincingly promise they will actually be there, is a non-starter.

Be this at it may, let’s hope that a reasoned and balanced solution is eventually found, and that Defendory does have an heir or successor. See you all in Athens?


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By Dr. Ezio Bonsignore, Editor-in-Chief of MILITARY TECHNOLOGY (MILTECH)