For the first time since the signing of the Abraham Accords, Israel is about to participate in the upcoming Bahrain International Airshow (BIAS).
The air show, which will take place Nov. 9-11 and is the largest of its kind in the Gulf, will showcase the latest military and civilian technologies from the global aerospace industry. The biennial occasion at Bahrain’s Sakhir Air Base sees more than 50,000 from the Middle East and the world, adding government officials and businessmen.
ISDEF, Israel’s largest annual exhibition on defense, security and cybersecurity and a member of the Avnon Group, coordinates and organizes the first Israeli pavilion at BIAS.
ISDEF exhibition in Israel, March 2022. (Photo by Oren Cohen)
Dozens of major Israeli corporations will showcase their products, Rafael, Elbit and Israel Aerospace Industries.
“This is the first time since the signing of the Abraham Accords that Israeli corporations will exhibit at BIAS,” ISDEF CEO Mati Weinberg told The Media Line. “We think this is a very smart opportunity to expand ties between Israel and Bahrain in those areas. It will also provide a backdoor to foster ties with Saudi Arabia and other countries that Israeli corporations have not met or done business with before.
The occasion will showcase a wide diversity of cutting-edge technologies in the aerospace field, from drone responses to civil aviation products.
The Israeli corporation SpacePharma, for example, will provide a miniaturized laboratory for pharmaceutical studies and progression projects in space. The lab is tuned to operate in low-gravity situations and can be controlled remotely from a floor station through scientists conducting experiments. SpacePharma has already flown seven missions with SpaceX and NASA, among others.
“Since this will be the first time Israel has participated in the show, many curious people will be drawn to our pavilion,” Weinberg said.
According to Weinberg, Bahrain’s first ambassador to Israel, Khaled Yousif Al Jalahma, helped facilitate Israel’s participation in the show.
The Bahrain Air Show, Al Jalahma wrote in a statement shared with The Media Line, “is a wonderful opportunity for ISDEF and Israeli aerospace corporations to meet with their industry peers and customers, showcase their technologies, announce initiatives, create commercial networking opportunities and take part in civilian and military delegation systems as a component of the event.
“We believe that the participation of Israeli aerospace and aviation corporations in the Bahrain International Airshow (BIAS) is a vital step in strengthening relations between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Israel,” Al Jalahma wrote in the statement.
The airshow takes a position opposite to the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine and Russia’s recent use of Iranian drones to carry out fatal movements across the country. Earlier this week, Kyiv accused Moscow of buying even more complex Iranian weapons in the form of explosives. Arash-2 drones, which reportedly have a diversity of more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). Iranian resources claim that this express drone has a jet engine.
ISDEF exhibition in Israel, March 2022. (Photo by Oren Cohen)
Israel is widely regarded as a leader in anti-drone, anti-UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) and missile defense technologies.
The war in Ukraine, Weinberg noted, has led to a renewal in Israeli defense technology.
“[The scenario in] Ukraine and Russia has led to significant adjustments in other countries’ defense desires and their preference to meet with Israeli companies,” he revealed. “Regarding our plans for [our exhibition] in 2023, we have heard from many officials from various countries discussing the scenario. “
Israel has noticed an increase in defense exports since the Russian invasion.
Germany, for example, has expressed interest in buying Israel’s Arrow 3 ballistic missile defense formula to protect against imaginable Russian aggression. If the deal goes through, it deserves to help Israel set a new defense export record for 2022 after an all-time high of $11. 3 billion in sales by 2021, according to the Defense Ministry.