The 21st International Defence Exhibition – Kielce, 2 – 5 September 2013
It is already the 21st edition of the Defence Industry Exhibition. From 2nd to 5th September 2013 Targi Kielce will have the pleasure to host providers of the state-of-the-art military products and technologies. Not only is the MSPO the showcase for the most advanced military and defence sector’s achievements but also for logistics techniques, protection systems designed for public and national security as well as rescue services. MSPO is held simultaneously with the 19th International Logistics Fair.
Over the twenty years of its existence MSPO has acquired the status of Central Europe’s largest event of this kind; the expo is also ranked third on the whole continent, just after Paris and London shows. The expo encompasses all military production branches; this is also a truly exceptional event as it features a whole array of novelties. It comes as no surprise that the show generates an avid interest of business insiders and producers from all over the world. The first, 1993 edition of MSPO brought together 85 exhibitors from 5 countries. Last year’s show was the showcase for almost 400 exhibitors representing 29 countries from all corner of the world.
World’s greatest military companies would not miss on the expo; for a number of years Targi Kielce has had the honour to host, inter alia.: BAE Systems, Boeing, MBDA, Raytheon, Thales or Saab. This Poland’s most important trade fair is attended by as many as 13 thousand guests, including representatives of Canada, Korea, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Romania, Iran, Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, the USA, Lithuania, Turkey, Belarus, Bulgaria, Spain, France, Russia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Mexico as well as military attaches of 24 countries. Last year’s Expo also hosted guests from such distant countries as Brunei, Israel, Saudi Arabia or Mexico. The event gained extra splendour owing to the visit of the Italian Minister of Defence Giampaolo Di Paola. The show was officially opened by President of the Republic of Poland Bronisław Komorowski.
Turkish representatives in Kielce
Over 400 exhibitors from as many as 30 countries have already confirmed their presence at this year’s military show. For eight years MSPO has been accompanied with national defence industry exhibitions. Turkey is this year’s star of the show. Germany, France, Israel, the United States, Sweden, the V4 Group Countries as well as Great Britain have already had their presentations. Italy had their military industry display at the last year’s jubilee edition of MSPO. The wealth and diversity of Italian offer put on display at the 20th MSPO was the one of the results of the defence cooperation memorandum which had been signed by Poland’s and Italian’s Ministers of Defence.
Turkish exhibition offer promises to be equally rich and abundant. The opening ceremony of the 21st International Defence Exhibition MSPO will be added extra splendour owing the performance of Turkey’s oldest military band – the Mehteran. The Turkish ensemble, in conjunction with Polish Armed Forces Representative Band will be playing the national anthems of Poland and Turkey as well as the Turkish March. The Mehteran is also the oldest Europe’s military orchestra; the ensemble’s presence at the MSPO marks the 90th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Turkey as well as the 2014’s 600th jubilee of diplomatic relations development between our country and the Ottoman Empire.
According to the MSPO organisers, it has already become the tradition of the military show that a special attention is paid to the presentation of Poland’s Military Forces’ cutting-edge equipment and gear used in international peace-keeping missions. The dynamic presentation will also give the sample of Polish soldiers’ day-to-day duties at foreign missions. At the last year’s expo, the soldiers of the 17th Wielkopolska Mechanised Brigade and the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade demonstrated the mechanised platoon operation in an ambush. The demonstration was staged by the soldiers and commanders who had gathered extensive experience during the Afghanistan missions. In the presentation scenario, the enemy attacked the soldiers with the use of an Improvised Explosive Device, mortars and riffles. The soldiers presented the mandatory procedures which encompassed platoon’s cooperation with the attack helicopters and evacuation of the injured from the assault scene.
Polish Defence Holding
The 21st MSPO will be used for the first as a showcase for Poland’s defence industry achievements put on display by the holding, which was formerly known as the Bumar Group. The Bumar Group, which associated almost 40 national defence sector companies, had operated in Polish market for exactly one decade. Now it has officially changed its name and thus the Polish Defence Holding has been created. The former Bumar president Mr Krzysztof Krystowski has announced, that the holding intends to continue its strategy as well as investments into cutting-edge technologies.
At present, the Holding is realising the 4 strategic projects; the elements of each scheme will also be put on display in Kielce. These encompass; the Shield of Poland, Anders, MRTT (Multi Role Tanker Transport) as well as Poland’s Soldier of the Future. These projects have been designed to modernise Polish Army as well as to implement the state-of-the-art solutions which will allow Poland to be on par with foreign weapons providers and to compete for most lucrative contracts.
In 2011 the Poland’s Ministry of Defence spent 6.5 billion PLN on broadly defined technical modernisation. The sum earmarked for 2018 accounts for almost 9 billion PLN; seventy to eighty percent of the orders are to be delivered by Polish military sector companies. Thus for Poland’s defence and military sector the MSPO is the show of special significance.
A wealth of exhibits
For a number of years, the static presentation has been prepared by the Inspectorate of Support for the Armed Forces in conjunction with the Land Forces. This will be the display of the top-quality gear used in Polish Army, ranging from network-operated socio-technical equipment and armaments of a particular soldier through bulk-size vehicles, 120 millimetres self-propelled wheeled or crawler-chain cannons and mortars. This will also be the showcase for Anders – the Poland’s 21st century combat platform; this is a state-of-the-art combat vehicle which features the two versions – as a fire support vehicle, the so-called light tank as well as the infantry combat one.
The latest addition to the heavy-duty equipment assortment is the Heavy Wheeled and Floating Armoured Transport Vehicle Hippopotamus; the 26-ton vehicle is capable of travelling on land with the speed of up to 110 kilometres an hour. It is worth spending a while at the display of the national air-defence systems; the have the capability of becoming a part of the future, modern air defence system known as the Shield of Poland. It was also President Bronisław Komorowski who is the proponent of the system introduction.
The Targi Kielce will also be used as the showcase for the SOŁA radar system with the Żubr-vehicle mounted aerial , the 35 millimetre anti-aircraft gun SAN based on the Swiss Oerlikon KDA cannon, the self-propelled and mobile anti-aircraft POPRAT unit equipped with four rocket missiles Grom and the racked launcher integrated tracking head in addition to the PTAKI – the Mobile Air-Defence Rocket Set whose new rocket element (the Sparrow RIM-162ESSM rocket) is capable of cooperation with the modernised KUB set.
The 2013 exhibition also promises to be the showcase for a whole array of helicopters. At the expo you will have a chance to have a closer look on the multi-task Sikorsky S-70i helicopter (International) and fully armed Black Hawk (Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze nr 2 in Bydgoszcz) with the 7,62 PKT machine-gun on board. The gun is delivered by Zakłady Mechaniczne “Tarnów” S.A. The helicopter proves to be a reliable and robust as it has been built upon the 30 years’ of aviation experience and battle field tests. It has been designed in compliance with the most stringent standards. The expo will also give a chance to admire the AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter in the SAR EC 725 version; Polish Army has been offered this helicopter by Eurocopter. There will also be the display of W3W Sokół and MI -17 helicopters.
At present the Ministry of Defence’s representatives are becoming familiar with the domestic companies’ offer on, inter alia unmanned platforms, as the Ministry has announced its plans to purchase new unmanned aerial vehicles. UAV’s will come in all parameters, classes and armament versions. Poland is supposed to have three squadrons by 2018; it is the total number of 30 aircrafts. Most of the products on offer – the unmanned aerial systems as well as remote-controlled vehicles will be showcased at the 21st MSPO.
It has become the MSPO tradition that this is the event where the Award of the President of Poland as well as Defender Awards are presented for the best companies and products showcased at the exhibition. The 2012 President’s Award was bestowed to Wojskowy Instytut Chemii i Radiometrii (The Military Chemical and Radiometry Institute in Warsaw) for the contamination identification device PRS-1
We are looking forwards to seeing you at Targi Kielce already on 2nd September.
