Defence events in 2025

CIEPE is the single most authoritative procurement-facing event for China's public security market, with all exhibition halls fully booked and direct access to Ministry of Public Security decision-makers and provincial police buyers. For dual-use and security-technology SMEs and primes, it is the essential gateway to understand Chinese law enforcement technology requirements and competitive benchmarks. The event's growing international participation — 30 overseas companies from 11 countries in 2025 — signals expanding opportunities for foreign suppliers in surveillance, communications, and unmanned systems.

For defence suppliers aligned with or seeking access to Russia and its partner states (China, Iran, Belarus, India, African and Middle Eastern nations), ARMY has historically been the single most important procurement and export platform in the Russian-sphere market. The forum is where the Russian MoD signs multi-hundred-billion-rouble government contracts and where Rosoboronexport facilitates export negotiations with over 80 foreign military delegations. Its cancellation in 2025 — the first in the event's history — is itself a significant market signal about Russia's wartime operational security posture and the declining viability of the forum as an international arms-trade venue.

ISC Brasil is the dominant gateway for security-technology suppliers—including dual-use and defence-adjacent firms—seeking access to Latin America's largest and fastest-growing security market. With over 100 exhibiting brands and an audience of corporate security managers, government officials, police, and critical-infrastructure operators, it is the primary venue for business development, channel partnerships, and product launches in the region. For SMEs and startups, the free-admission model for trade professionals maximises buyer footfall relative to participation cost.

NEVA is the dominant gateway event for any supplier seeking access to Russia's civil shipbuilding, Arctic/Northern Sea Route, and inland-waterways procurement pipeline, drawing state corporations such as USC and Rosatom as programme organisers and anchor exhibitors. For SMEs and international suppliers, the 100%-sold-out exhibition space and 700+ exhibitor roster signal a highly competitive but commercially active market where deals and framework agreements are signed on the floor. Despite Western sanctions constraining some participation, the event continues to attract 30+ countries and remains the primary B2B matchmaking platform for the Russian maritime supply chain.

The event directly supported Frontex's near-term operational need to assess roughly 3,000 candidates in December 2025, signalling a concrete procurement interest in proctoring technology. For SMEs and startups in remote-assessment and exam-integrity software, it offered a low-barrier route to reach an EU agency and Member State border authorities and to have their solutions registered on an official showcase platform.

The forum provides a rare, intimate setting for defence SMEs and startups to engage directly with senior Army, Space Force, and Air Force technology leaders alongside prime contractors and investors on the critical topic of SATCOM and tactical-edge connectivity — a fast-growing procurement priority. Kuiper Government Solutions' participation signals concrete commercial contracting opportunities in military broadband and JADC2-adjacent programmes. For non-traditional vendors, the application-gated format means a high-density, low-noise room where business development conversations are genuinely accessible.

CPSE is the single largest procurement and business-development gateway into China's public-safety and smart-city supply chain, drawing 150,000+ professional buyers from 110+ countries and connecting global security manufacturers with Chinese municipal authorities and systems integrators. For dual-use technology suppliers — particularly in AI, UAS, edge computing, and ISR — it provides unmatched visibility into Chinese government procurement priorities and competitive intelligence on domestic champions. Western and allied-nation defence SMEs and primes should monitor CPSE closely as a leading indicator of PRC security-technology export pipelines and capability development.

Indo Pacific is the single most important maritime-defence procurement forum in the Asia-Pacific, drawing Chiefs of Navy, senior acquisition officials, and prime contractors from over 60 nations — making it a critical venue for capability announcements, supply-chain entry, and AUKUS-related industrial partnerships. For SMEs and startups, state-government pavilions and structured B2B/B2G matchmaking sessions provide rare direct access to tier-1 primes and military procurement managers. With attendance and exhibitor numbers hitting records in 2025, the event is the primary gateway for international companies seeking to enter or expand in the Australian and Indo-Pacific defence market.

For defense-tech SMEs and startups, this summit offers direct access to the European VC and strategic investor community—including funds such as Seraphim, Bessemer, Lightspeed, and NATO Innovation Fund—in a single intimate venue. The high-ticket, invitation-feel format concentrates decision-makers rather than diluting access across a mass trade-show floor, making it one of the few European forums where a startup can pitch operators, investors, and NATO innovation officials in the same room. The agenda's explicit focus on crossing the valley of death, European strategic autonomy, and Ukraine-war lessons directly addresses the procurement and partnership questions most pressing for companies seeking European government contracts.

The conference is a niche academic and doctrinal venue rather than a commercial marketplace, giving SMEs and startups a channel to engage the Polish land-forces academy and partner universities on decision-support, dual-use, cyber and critical-infrastructure research topics. Its explicit focus on dual-use technologies and hybrid-threat decision-making aligns with priorities relevant to defence suppliers seeking academic partners or research validation. Value is primarily in networking, publication and early-stage research collaboration, not procurement.