Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed toured the International Defence Exhibition and Conference, and the Naval Defence and Maritime Security Exhibition in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Dubai's Crown Prince viewed many of the latest defence technology products and visited the stand of Emirati defence company Tawazun. He also visited the exhibits of Edge, the UAE defence conglomerate, Calidus, who make combat vehicles, and Arquus who launched their new armoured vehicle called Scarabee on Tuesday. All three companies are based in Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Hamdan stopped by the Saudi pavilion, which exhibits a number of the Kingdom's companies specialising in defence industries. At the end of the tour, Sheikh Hamdan said he was happy Idex went ahead, despite the current pandemic. He also expressed his confidence in the professionalism of local companies, and their ability to accomplish the aspirations of the nation and its leadership. Sheikh Hamdan was accompanied by Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed, Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, and Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Teleworking. Lt Gen Abdullah Al Marri, Commander-in-chief of Dubai Police was also in attendance. This year's <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/successes-of-abu-dhabi-s-idex-are-a-boost-for-global-security-ties-1.1172557">Idex</a> has seen multiple million-dirham deals, with Dh20.56bn worth of contracts being awarded in four days, about the same as 2019 levels. “We are hopeful that we will pass the figure tomorrow,” Brig Gen Al Hassani said. The largest contract was a Dh485m deal awarded to UAE based International Golden Group, while Al Tuff International and MBDA UAE secured deals worth Dh136.6m each. The arms fair ends on Thursday.
