By Xue Chengqing and Gu Yagen
ABU DHABI, Feb. 18 (ChinaMil) — On the afternoon of February 16 (local time), the Chinese Navy’s amphibious dock landing ship Kunlun Shan (Hull 998) arrived at the port of Mina Zayed in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to attend the 14th Abu Dhabi International Defence Exhibition & Conference (IDEX) and the 5th Naval Defence & Maritime Security Exhibition.
Chinese sailors wave to greet overseas Chinese who welcome the visiting Chinese ship. (Photo by Xue Chengqing)
This year’s IDEX is scheduled to run from February 17 to 21 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, attracting countless military equipment manufacturers and purchasers from 150 countries. China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence organized nine military equipment trading companies to participate in the event as a national delegation in the name of “Chinese Military Industry” with an exhibition area of 1,458 square meters.
The “Chinese Military Industry” national delegation will mainly display Chinese-made defense products including the WS-600L multi-purpose weapon system, C602 medium and long-range anti-ship missile weapon system, L-15 advanced training aircraft, Qilin-class conventional submarine, Type MRTV3000 frigate, Type ZDK-03 early warning aircraft and Type VT4 main battle tank.
According to the organizer of IDEX, this year’s event has attracted more than 1,200 corporate exhibitors from over 50 countries and regions, including world-renowned companies in the fields of military industry, aviation and defense equipment such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Airbus and Safran, etc. The exhibition focused on displaying the latest achievements of the application of cutting-edge technologies such as intelligent manufacturing and big data in global military and defence industries.
The first IDEX was launched in 1993, and the event has since been held once every two years. So far, it has grown into the largest and most influential defense exhibition in West Asia and North Africa, as well as one of the world’s top defense exhibitions.