In the midst of the unprecedented situations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic and foreign defense companies' interest in the Defense Expo Korea 2020 is still very high. As of January 31, 2020, the early bird application for DX Korea 2020 ended with a high application rate of 280% compared to the 2018 event. Through the early application, 70% of the total exhibition area has already been booked, and the remaining 30% will be completed on a first-come, first-served basis until May 31, the general application deadline. This outcome comes from the successful results that participating companies have actually experienced in the previous three events.

 

In the aftermath of COVID-19, many events held in Korea and abroad have been postponed or canceled. However, the organizer is keen to monitor the impact on the Korea Defense Industry Exhibition (DX Korea) and prepared to hold it according to its schedule since it is held in mid-September, the second half of this year.

 

According to the results of KIDA(the Korea Defense Institute)'s evaluation commissioned by the Ministry of National Defense of Korea (Strategic Utilization of Korean Defense Exhibitions Due to Changes in Defense Export Environments) announced in October 19, DX Korea has been growing continuously since its inception in 2014 and has been evaluated as appropriate for inviting key overseas personnel in terms of accessibility and facilities because it utilizes Ilsan KINTEX, Asia's best professional exhibition facility.

 

This year, DX Korea 2020 is focused with utilizing military power of cutting-edge science and technology to actively respond to the rapidly changing security environment and lead the future innovation of the ground forces in line with the era of the 4th industrial revolution. In particular, under the banner of ‘New Defense: Shape the Future', it is expected that expansion of security and economic synergies will shift the paradigm of the defense industry, and create opportunities to form corporate social value, expand civil-military cooperation projects and to foster related startups.

 

Currently, defense companies which have completed the application for participation are major Korean defense companies including Hanwha Group (Hanwha Corporation, Hanwha Systems, Hanwha Defense) which represents the domestic defense companies, Hyundai Motor Group (KIA and Hyundai Motors), Poongsan, KAI, LIG NEX1 and S&T Group as well as major overseas defense companies such as Northrop Grumman of the United States, BAE Systems of the United Kingdom, RAFAEL of Israel, and Leonardo S.p.A of Italy.

 

Even though the early application is now closed, inquiries regarding the general application, which is closed by May 31st, keep coming in. The organizing committee plans to provide a variety of programs to create results based on the principle of coexistence between large-scale defense companies and SMEs by placing large companies on the back and small companies on the front.