The publication of the Gray report, the recent death of Colonel Thorneloe - the most senior Army officer to die on operations since the Falklands, and controversial statements regarding leading vehicle manufactures, has moved defence procurement activity to the top of the political agenda in the U.K.

Right Honourable James Arbuthnot, Chairman of the Defence Select Committee has said that the Gray report highlighted a serious deficiency in defence procurement and argued that a long term view should be taken on planning. He also said that the MOD should reduce the scope of its procurement. He suggested that the Ministry of Defence should "look at things at a long term basis ... at the moment the defence procurement budget is, as this report makes plain, completely unaffordable and completely unrealistic".

Rt. Hon. Arbuthnot will be speaking at International Armoured Vehicles, Defence IQ’s flagship event for the armoured vehicle community, which is taking place on the 1st - 5th February 2010 at the ExCel Centre in London. The event brings together senior military and industry experts, providing opportunities to gain expert insights on armoured vehicle trends, global procurement activity and lessons learnt from the battlefield, as well as to conduct business with the world's leading vehicle, system and component manufacturers, and smaller specialist suppliers. The event will "bring together many leading experts and experienced ground combat commanders to discuss the changing, joint nature of 21st century warfare and lessons learned after eight-plus years of war. I look forward to participating" General Peter Chiarelli, Vice Chief of Staff, United States Army, has said of his involvement.

“As operations shift from Iraq to Afghanistan, it is important to keep abreast of all the latest developments in this area” Abigail Stern, Program Director at Defence IQ explained. The event provides an opportunity for key stakeholders to meet each other, as well as discuss and attend sessions that examine the latest technologies, future capability requirements, international programme developments, the rapid acquisition, delivery and support of armoured vehicles and international upgrade and life extension programmes. Lieutenant Colonel Greg Burton, Canadian DND commented that the event is “a good opportunity to share procurement experience, to confirm requirements with allies and industry, and a good opportunity to network and get to know the professionals in the field”.

The speaker panel includes:

• General Peter Chiarelli, Vice Chief of Staff, United States Army

• General Sir Peter Wall KBC, CBE, Commander-in-Chief Land Forces, British Army

• Lieutenant General Andrew Leslie, Chief of Land Staff, Canadian DND

• Lieutenant General Antonio Gucciardino, General Manager of the Procurement Agency for Land Systems, Italian Army

• Major General Chris Deverell MBE, Director General Logistics Support and Equipment, HQ Land Forces, British Army

• Brigadier General Yaron Livnat, Head of Tank Programme Management, Israeli MoD

The exhibition is attracting a huge amount of interest from the community, with over 50 exhibitors confirmed already. Exhibitors include vehicle manufacturers and major OEMs, vehicle system and service providers, as well as smaller component suppliers. Organisations range from Oshkosh, Force Protection and Iveco to NIITEK, MDH Bioquell, Htuchison and Tyron.

Warn is one of the companies that has been involved in the event previously, Mr. Hugo Burgers, Business Development Director EMEA, Warn Industries, Inc. said of the 2009 show; "We were enthusiastic about the concept of having such a focused event. Our objective was to get in direct contact with our end customer to hear their feedback, learn from their experiences and use the opportunity to discuss our product offering. We are very pleased to say we achieved all of these goals and will therefore participate in the 2010 event as well."

Fabrice Parodi, Sales Manager, 01db Metravib commented that “this is a very good opportunity for us to make a lot of contacts with the end users who express their requirements with possible partners in the industry”.

IQPC
05.11.2009