DSEi

Defence Systems and Equipment International is one of the world's biggest arms fairs and has been held in the ExCel centre in East London's Docklands since 1999. Organised by Reed Elsevier through its subsidiary Spearhead Ltd, and supported extensively by the British government's Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO), DSEi competes with France's Eurosatory to be Europe's most important place to deal in military equipment.
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Farnborough

Farnborough International sells itself to the public as an airshow and family day out. Many visitors don't realise that the public days are preceeded by a full trade exhibition for aerospace and military products. It is organised by the UK's Society of British Aerospace Companies with international invitations managed by DESO.
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Farnborough and DSEi take place on alternate years.

Other Arms Fairs

There are several other smaller Arms Fairs held in the UK. These include:

ITEC
This is an annual military training and simulation exhibition which is has been held in London and Amsterdam. It is run by Reed Exhibitions and takes place in May.
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Helitech
This is a biennial event organised by Reed Exhibitions and supported by the Defence Manufacturer's Association. It takes place at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, which is near Cambridge. 2003's exhibitors included such famous military industry names as AugustaWestland (manufacturer of the Apache attack helicopter), Rolls Royce, and Thales, France's biggest arms company. Although UK exhibitors dominated the event, there were companies from around Europe, Russia, the USA, Israel, South Africa and Taiwan. Spearhead boasted of in excess of 6,500 visitors in 2003 from the military and commercial sectors.