The Defence Committee of the Spanish Congress visits the IDEX defence exhibition in Abu Dhabi
- The Congress Defence Commission attends IDEX
- Cooperation with the Emirates and Middle Eastern countries increases
The 17th edition of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX 2025) has brought together in Abu Dhabi 1,560 companies manufacturing weapons systems and military equipment from 65 nations around the world, consolidating the United Arab Emirates' trade fair as one of the five leading events on a global scale.
Several hundred political authorities, senior military commanders, executives and more than 150,000 professionals from the sector have flocked to the populous city of Abu Dhabi, seeking to publicise their sales and purchases, close million-dollar deals, negotiate contracts and learn first-hand about the technological developments of a large international group of companies impacted by Artificial Intelligence, quantum technology and cyberthreats. Even members of parliament and senators from different nations, eager to learn about the range of weapons systems aimed at protecting and deterring.
Held every two years, the exhibition opened its doors on 17 February with the surprise of President Donald Trump's demand to quickly find peace in the war in Ukraine and under the echoes of US Vice President J. D. Vance's wake-up call to European countries in his speech at the Munich Security Conference.
IDEX 2025 has been a hive of activity and remained open until the 21st while the government of the President of the Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, and those attending the exhibition remained attentive to the talks in Riyadh between the Russian Foreign Minister, the diplomat Sergei Lavrov, and the newly appointed US Secretary of State, the former Florida senator Marco Rubio. Not surprisingly, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are located on the Arabian Peninsula and only an hour and a half away by plane.
Spain has arrived at IDEX 2025 with almost twenty companies from the aerospace, defence and security industries, which have shown their main innovations in military vehicles, weapons systems, aviation equipment, advanced electronics and warships. Of these, 13 have grouped together under the Spanish flag organised by TEDAE, the Spanish Association of Defence, Security, Aeronautics and Space Technology Companies, chaired by Ricardo Martí Fluxá.
The Congress Defence Commission attends IDEX
Unlike the 2023 edition, the Secretary of State for Defence, Amparo Valcarce, has not attended IDEX 2025, which is undoubtedly the largest defence fair in the Middle East and Asia and one of the five most important in the world given the great importance and enormous diversity of the companies present and because it is held in parallel with Navdex 2025, the Emirates' Maritime Security and Naval Defence exhibition.
The highest authority of the Spanish Ministry of Defence who made an appearance at IDEX 2025 walked on the carpet of the Spanish pavilion and chatted with industry leaders was the Director General of Strategy and Innovation of the Defence Industry, Air Force Lieutenant General Miguel Ivorra, who was accompanied by the director of the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA), Air Force Lieutenant General Julio Ayuso.
The level of official Spanish representation contrasts with that of other European nations, such as France and Italy. Their large official delegations have been led by their respective defence ministers, Sebastien Lecornu and Guido Crosetto, respectively. The immediate consequence has been that both ministers have held meetings and forged personal ties with the president of the Emirates, which will be important for future contracts and collaborations.
The UAE Ministry of Defence has announced that Lieutenant General Miguel Ivorra has been received by the second chief of the Joint Capabilities General Staff, Major General Ishaq Saleh Mohamed Al-Balushi, and by the Deputy Undersecretary of Defence Support and Industries and organiser of IDEX 2025, Major General Mubarak Saeed Ghafan Al-Jabri.
The official representation of the Ministry of Defence at both Emirates exhibitions was complemented by the presence of a delegation from the Defence Commission of the Congress of Deputies led by its president, Alberto Fabra, former president of the Valencian Community between 2011 and 2016. He was accompanied by the spokespersons of the three majority political parties in the aforementioned Commission: José Antonio Rodríguez (PSOE); General Alberto Asarta (Vox) and Agustín Conde (PP).
Cooperation with the Emirates and Middle Eastern countries increases
The four MPs were able to observe and learn at first hand about the innovations presented by the more than 1,500 companies that gathered at IDEX and, of course, the technological options of the Spanish industries grouped together in the Spanish pavilion: Arquimea, which develops controllers, drones and loitering systems; em&e group, manufacturer of thermal cameras, ammunition guidance and weapon stabilisation and control systems, whose new president Javier Escribano has made his debut on the international stage; and Hisdesat, which specialises in secure communications, radar observation and satellite-based maritime traffic information.
They visited the stands of Indra, a multinational covering all technological fields whose recently appointed executive president, Ángel Escribano, has ratified agreements with the Emirati industrial defence corporation EDGE to develop 3D radars, electronic warfare equipment and anti-drone systems. They also got to know Instalaza, which produces anti-tank projectiles; Iraundi, dedicated to bearings; Jomipsa, which focuses on emergency power; Ka Safe, which manufactures explosives and deactivates projectiles; Navantia, the state-owned warship shipyard that has signed a contract to build three corvettes for the Royal Saudi Navy; SAES, an acoustics and underwater defence company; TSD, which produces land vehicles; and Uro, which specialises in light tactical vehicles and all-terrain trucks.
In the pavilion organised by TEDAE, they were also able to learn about the five branches of activity of the Oesia Group: Tecnobit, intelligent vision, simulation and tactical communications; Cipherbit, cybersecurity and encrypted communications; Inster, aerospace, land and naval communications technology; and Oesia Networks, specialising in digital transformation. The president of Oesia, Lluis Furnells, has returned satisfied to Madrid, after an EDGE company selected an advanced guidance and navigation system from its fifth subsidiary, UAV-Navigation, to govern the Jeer drone, a long-range drone dedicated to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
Five other Spanish companies attended IDEX 2025 on an individual basis: Centum, products for emergencies, security, defence and aerospace; Hispano Vema, decontamination, field logistics and water treatment; Marine Instruments, which presented its M5D Airfox naval drone; Up Lifting Vertical, tactical logistics equipment for the movement of heavy loads; and IGG-Arquimea, a subsidiary of Arquimea.
The CEO of TEDAE, César Ramos, speaking to the Emirates news agency, said that the annual turnover of the industries grouped together in his association ‘reaches 8 billion euros, of which approximately 60% is exported’. The main destinations are the ‘European and NATO countries’ markets, with a ‘notable increase in cooperation with the Emirates and Middle Eastern nations’, Ramos pointed out. One example is the agreement signed at IDEX between the em&e group and NIMR, a company of the EDGE group, to manufacture and integrate 6x6 wheel drive combat vehicles from the aforementioned Emirati company in Spain.