Military and defence technology to combat terrorism
224 views · Published 9 December 2018 · 3:50 · Indexed 2 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(4 Dec 2018) LEADIN: Military grade technology and cyber security developments are among the items being showcased in Cairo at Egypt's first ever defence expo. The three-day international weapons fair features the world's top arms companies and hundreds of military and civilian participants from dozens of countries. STORYLINE: From fighter jets to a range of armoured vehicles, international defence industry heavyweights are promoting their newest military hardware. It's the first time Egypt has hosted an international weapons fair. Organisers hope the event will project a message to the world that Egypt is now secure and stable. The three-day Egypt Defence Expo opened Monday (3 December) and has attracted participants from dozens of countries. The United States, Egypt's largest arms supplier, has over 40 companies present, alongside major firms from Britain, France and Germany, as well as Russia, China, India and Gulf nations. Anti-terrorism equipment is among the latest technology that is now playing a major role for defence industries. Everything from facial recognition software to drones, jammers and sensors are attracting interest. Kostas Kadaras, security and integrated systems director at Intracom Telecom, is showing his company's newest tech. "Specifically we designed a software that has significant performance over threats coming from the terrorist," he says. "In the old days we had to confront this kind of threats with heavy machinery, heavy tools, however today the big data analytics, the intelligence, the detection sensors and all the integration behind the software allow us to have (an) early warning, notification, alarming, incident managing, constructing the common operational picture and the most important to assign resources specific to compensate and confront these kind of threats," he says. Insitu, a company owned by Boeing, is showing its latest flight simulator. Its international programs vice president, Mark Bauman, says: "One of the key components of all of our systems is the modularity of those systems and that allows us to continue to evolve this system as threats mature and new threats are identified. We are able to swap out different parts relatively easily and bring a new capability to the customer very seamlessly." Organisers have not specified sales targets or expectations for the event but say agreements will be signed and announced at a later date. Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi led the 2013 military overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president. The country is currently battling an Islamic State-led insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt Defence Expo runs 3-5 December at Cairo's International Exhibition Centre. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/4df3d47dedacca87269f2ec2f8e901ee
