Author & photographer: Ian French
The first International Air and Defence Exhibition (IADE) in Tunisia was held at Djerba International Airport from 4th to 8th March 2020. The event had 111 exhibitors, 38 participating countries and 42 official delegations from 51 countries attending the events. Average daily attendance for the first three days, which were trade days, was 4,600 visitors. The next two days were open to the public and average attendance was 13,000 per day.
The opening of the exhibition was attended by The President of the Republic, Qais Saeed, the Minister of National Defence, Imad Ezeki, and the Minister of State, Anwar Marouf, along with many high national figures, regional officials and many military leaders.
The main purpose of the exhibition was to build new and strengthen existing business to business and business to government relations.
The Solo Turk F-16 and Saudi Hawks display team flew daily. The event was opened by a flypast of two L-59Ts from 16Sq and an F-5F from 15Sq. The same flypast also took place on the closing day and in addition a UH-60M performed a display.
Aviation Press would like to thank 4Aviation for their assistance in arranging the visit.