LONDON — It’s billed as the world’s largest arms fair: 1,200 defense manufacturers converging on London to showcase everything from the latest unmanned aircraft to camouflage body paint.
But as the Defence and Security Equipment International show kicked off Tuesday, the companies know they’ll be facing a common enemy in the double whammy of military budget cuts and the drawdown of military operations in Afghanistan.
“The industry is bracing itself,” said Endre Lunde, a defense consultant at IHS Janes. “It’s already feeling the impact of the financial crisis, and it’s going to feel it even stronger soon — and that’s before the whole drop related to the end of operations in Afghanistan really hits.”
The show known as DSEi is expected to attract more than 20,000 attendees — from military experts to international procurement officials. Among new items on display are an “invisibility cloak” for tanks and gas masks equipped with Camelbak-hydration systems. The Associated Press
