Defence, aerospace and security exhibitions in 2027: dates, locations and who each show reaches

Seven international defence, aerospace and security exhibitions run in 2027. The year opens in Abu Dhabi in January and closes in Cairo in December, and between those two the calendar crosses Singapore, Rio de Janeiro, Langkawi and Jakarta.

It is a heavier year than 2026, and the reason is structural rather than coincidental. IDEX, LIMA, LAAD and EDEX all run every two years, and their cycles land together in 2027. If you are setting a budget across the four regions these shows cover, you are making more decisions this year than last.

Below is the full calendar, then each region in turn: what the show is, who walks the floor, and what to know before you commit. Every date has been checked against the organiser. Bridge Exhibitions sells and represents most of these shows, and the full portfolio sits on the Shows page.

The 2027 calendar at a glance

The Gulf: IDEX, NAVDEX and IDEX NEXUS

IDEX and NAVDEX run from 25 to 29 January 2027 at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi. This is the anchor event of the region and the largest of the seven by a wide margin. The 2025 edition drew 1,565 exhibitors from 65 countries and 206,073 visitors across 181,501 square metres, and closed with 55 contracts worth 6.85 billion US dollars, according to ADNEC.

The two shows sit together but sell to different buyers. IDEX is land and air. NAVDEX is naval, and it runs on the water at the marina alongside the halls, which changes who you meet and how they arrive at your stand.

IDEX NEXUS, branded IDEX NXT on site, runs inside the same dates and venue. It is the defence AI and autonomy platform, and it is sold as its own product rather than as a hall within IDEX. If your buyer is a technology programme lead rather than a procurement officer, that is where they will be.

One thing to weigh before committing. According to UFI's Global Exhibition Barometer published in July 2026, which surveyed 466 companies across 59 countries, 55 per cent of exhibition businesses based in the GCC reported a strong negative impact from the regional situation, against 14 per cent worldwide. The global picture in that report is one of resilience, with 27 per cent of companies expecting revenue growth above 5 per cent. The Gulf is the exception, and Gulf shows are where you should expect the most movement between now and January.

Planning note. Space at IDEX goes early and the good positions go earlier. If Abu Dhabi is on your 2027 list, treat the first quarter of 2026 as your decision point rather than the second half.

Asia-Pacific: BAAFEx, LIMA and Indo Defence

Three of the seven shows sit in Asia-Pacific, and they fall within ten weeks of each other between March and May. For a business entering the region rather than defending a position in it, that clustering is useful: one regional push, three floors, one travel budget.

BAAFEx runs from 22 to 24 March 2027 at Changi Exhibition Centre in Singapore. It is the youngest show here, with 2025 its first edition, and it is business aviation rather than defence. The organiser is Experia, the company behind the Singapore Airshow, which is the reason a second edition was never in doubt. Buyers are operators, owners and the finance around them.

LIMA follows from 20 to 24 April 2027 in Langkawi, its 18th edition. LIMA is two shows sharing a name: aerospace at the Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre and maritime at Resorts World Langkawi. Southeast Asian navies and air forces attend in force, and the flying display pulls a public audience that the halls do not.

Indo Defence closes the run from 12 to 15 May 2027 at JIExpo Kemayoran in Jakarta. It is the largest defence exhibition in Southeast Asia and it runs concurrently with Indo Aerospace and Indo Marine, so a single stand can reach tri-service procurement rather than one branch of it.

Planning note. LIMA opens four days after LAAD closes in Rio. If both are on your list, you are shipping to Langkawi while your team is still in Brazil. Decide early which one gets the senior people.

Latin America: LAAD

LAAD Defence and Security runs from 13 to 16 April 2027 at Riocentro in Rio de Janeiro, its 16th edition. It is the only show of the seven in the Americas, and it is the route into Brazilian procurement for suppliers who have no presence there.

The floor reaches the Brazilian armed forces first, then police and public security commands, then the wider region. Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Peru send buyers. If your market development plan names Latin America, this is the show that plan runs through, because there is no second option in the calendar.

Planning note. Brazilian import and customs timelines are the constraint that catches first-time exhibitors, not stand build. Start the paperwork conversation before you start the design one.

Egypt and North Africa: EDEX

EDEX runs from 6 to 9 December 2027 at the Egypt International Exhibition Centre in Cairo. It is organised under the Egyptian Ministry of Defence and it has grown at every edition since it began in 2018.

EDEX reaches an audience the other six do not. Egyptian Armed Forces procurement is the core, and around it sit delegations from across Africa and the Arab world that rarely travel to the Gulf shows in the same numbers. For a supplier whose growth plan names Africa, EDEX does work that Abu Dhabi cannot.

Planning note. December placement makes EDEX a year-end show, which cuts both ways. Budgets are often spent by then, so the conversations you have are frequently about the following year. Plan the follow-up before you plan the stand.

How do you choose which 2027 shows to commit to?

Start with a question that has nothing to do with the calendar: are you protecting existing customers or opening a territory where nobody knows you? The answer changes everything that follows.

If you are protecting a position, go where your customers already are and accept a smaller stand. Presence matters more than scale, and the meetings are booked before you arrive. If you are opening a territory, the show has to carry the introduction for you, which means the national pavilion route or a position near the country delegations rather than a cheap stand on an outer aisle.

Then check procurement timing. A defence exhibition is a marketing event that sits on top of a procurement cycle you do not control. Committing to a show eighteen months before a programme decision is useful. Committing eighteen months after it is a brand exercise, which may still be worth doing, but you should know which one you are buying.

The biennial clustering matters here more than usual. Four of these seven shows run only every two years, and all four fall in 2027. A supplier who covers them all will spend more in 2027 than in 2026 and 2028 combined. Sequencing the spend across the year, rather than committing to everything in one quarter, is the difference between a programme and a scramble.

Our market development work usually starts with this exact conversation, and the sectors we concentrate on are where the relationships already exist.

Lead times: how early do you actually have to start?

The dates below are working figures, not worst cases. They assume decisions get made when they are asked for, which is the part that usually slips.

1. Custom stand build: four to five months. From brief to show-ready at a venue the size of ADNEC. Design and approval take longer than construction, and venue approval is the step people forget to schedule.
2. First-time national pavilion: six to nine months. The sponsoring body relationship is the critical path, not the build. We covered why in what it actually takes to launch a national pavilion abroad.
3. Space booking at the largest shows: twelve months or more. Not because the halls sell out, but because the positions worth having are taken by returning exhibitors with first refusal.
4. Delegation recruitment: six months minimum. If you are bringing companies rather than only attending, recruitment runs alongside everything above and is the piece most often started too late.

Work backwards from the show date. For EDEX in December 2027, a first-time pavilion means starting the sponsor conversation in the first half of 2027. For IDEX in January, it means starting now.

Before 2027: what is left in 2026

Three shows still run this year, and two of them are next week.

• Africa Aerospace and Defence, 16 to 20 September 2026, Pretoria. The largest defence exhibition on the African continent, and the one place the continent’s air forces and procurement chiefs gather in numbers.
• GISEC Global, 21 to 23 September 2026, Dubai. Security and cyber rather than defence hardware.
• AI Everything Global, 6 to 7 October 2026, ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi. The technology and AI end of the portfolio.

If you are weighing a first move into any of these regions, the 2026 shows are the cheaper way to test the room before committing 2027 budget to a stand.

About Bridge Exhibitions

Bridge Exhibitions is an international sales, marketing, event management and market development business created by Arabian World Events and Orchestra Media. Its multilingual team helps event organisers grow international participation, develop new markets, and connect with exhibitors and industry partners worldwide.

If one of these shows is on your 2027 list, tell us which markets you want to reach and we will tell you what it takes.