By Franz-Stefan Gady
This year’s IMDEX conference is bigger than ever — a telling sign of an accelerating arms race in Asian waters?
This week, Singapore will once more play host to Asia’s largest maritime defense trade fair, the Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference (IMDEX). Taking place from May 19 – 20 at Singapore’s Changi Exhibition Center, the 10th biennial IMDEX will feature military hardware from more than 180 participating companies, high-level delegations from around 40 and navy chiefs from 24 countries, along with 20 warships from 12 nations.
IMDEX 2015′s principal focus will be on unmanned vehicles (both in the skies and underwater), vessels suited for littoral waters, and underwater technology, according to the event organizers.
Defense News quotes Leck Chet Lam, IMDEX Asia’s head organizer, as saying that “unmanned vehicles will feature in several areas of IMDEX Asia 2015.” UV exhibitors will include Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, ST Engineering, SAAB AB, Atlas Elektronik and Microflown Maritime.
Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) in particular are expected to play a larger role in future underwater warfare (see: “The End of the Submarine as We Know it?” ) and will be a topic of discussion during the 15th Asia Pacific Submarine Conference (APSC), which will be held in conjunction with IMDEX Asia.
Read the full story at The Diplomat