Within the framework of the measures taken due to the coronavirus epidemic that started in China in January 2019 and later became a pandemic, the DIMDEX 2020 fair, was planned to be held on March 16-18, 2020.  This is a fair that Turkish Defense Industry companies have been attending for years and it was canceled on March 3, due to the state of emergency declared in the country.

SOFEX 2020, which will be held in Jordan, was postponed to a later date, not because of the coronavirus outbreak, but because of the damage caused to the venue due to heavy rain at the end of January.

The FIDAE fair, scheduled for March 31, 2020 in Chile, was postponed until further notice.

The DSA Malaysia fair, which was planned to be held on April 20-23, was postponed to August 24-27, 2020 with the statement made by the DSA organization on March 16th.

The International Eurasia Air Show, which would have been held for the second time on April 22-26, 2020 in Antalya, was postponed to June 24-28, 2020.

The UDT (Undersea Defense Technology) fair, which was planned to take place in Rotterdam on May 26-28, was postponed to December 08-10, 2020.

The KADEX 2020, which was planned to be held in Kazakhstan on May 26-28, was postponed to June 10-13, 2021.

The Berlin ILA fair, which is sponsored by Defence Turkey Magazine as a media sponsor and was scheduled to  take place in Berlin on May 13-17, 2020, was canceled with the written statement made by the organization. The statement made by the ILA organizing committee states that “events with an anticipated attendance of at least 1,000 persons and above are forbidden, in accordance with the measures taken by the German government due to the coronavirus outbreak”. With the announcement, it was disclosed to the public that the event has been canceled and will not be held this year. 

The Farnborough International Airshow, which was planned to be held in Farnborough, UK on July 20-24, 2020, was also canceled within the framework of the measures taken by the UK government.

The International Eurosatory 2020 fair, which was scheduled to take place in Paris on June 08-12 this year, was canceled on March 26th with the announcement made by GICAT within the framework of the measures taken by the French government. In the statement made by GICAT, it was noted that the preparations (transportation of necessary equipment, travel arrangements of participants and hotel planning, health measures, etc.) are no longer possible and therefore the organization will not take place this year. The next edition of the organization will take place on June 13-17, 2022.

Conferences and Fairs in Turkey also postponed

The SAHA EXPO 2020, one of the defense industry events in Turkey that would have taken place on March 25-28, was postponed to November 4-7, 2020 with the decision taken by the Board of SAHA Istanbul. 

The International Future Soldier Conference, organized by SaSaD and Defence Turkey Magazine with the support of the MoD, General Staff and Presidency of Defense Industries and which was planned to be held on March 23-24 this year, was postponed to September 29-30, 2020 as per the decision of the Conference Executive Committee.

The 9th Air and Avionics Seminar that would have taken place in Ankara on April 28-29 was postponed to September 3-4, 2020.

SEDEC Conference that was scheduled to be held on June 2-4, 2020 was postponed to September 15-17, 2020.

Regarding the 10th Defense Technologies Congress (SAVTEK), there has not been a notice of postponement or cancellation about the event which is scheduled to be held on June 24-26, 2020 and the schedule of the event remains unchanged on the official website.

It is observed that the events planned to be held in the first seven months of the year have been affected by pandemic measures and there have been no changes in the schedule of national and international events that are due to take place in the last quarter of the year, with the expectation that the outbreak will be brought under control in the summer.