#Idex

The past year, and the beginning of the current one, has seen plenty of in-person events being canceled due to the pandemic. The organizers of IDEX and NAVDEX, in Abu Dhabi, UAE, decided instead to put in place rigorous health protocols and still welcome the biggest players of the defense industry. Here we’ll first see the products of Caracal, the local firearm manufacturer, part of the Edge Group ( formerly EDIC).

Truvelo is a South African firearms manufacturing company which we know for their large caliber sniper and anti-materiel rifles. In IDEX they had a small booth where they managed to fit their newest baby and two of its bigger siblings.

Steyr Mannlicher attended IDEX with a somehow low profile booth in the Austrian pavilion. In the small space, they managed, however, to showcase a good selection of their products, from the new A2 pistol in different configurations to the impressive HS50 anti-materiel rifle.

Stoeger is a Turkish manufacturer mostly known for its shotguns, which are frequently based on designs of the parent company Benelli. Being part of the Beretta Holding, however, Stoeger has also been manufacturing semiautomatic pistols for some years. Specifically, they took over from Beretta the production of the 8000 series “Cougar” models. This was the first attempt by Beretta to offer a pistol with rotating barrel, later replaced by the polymer framed Px4 “Storm” series.

Malyuk is the new bullpup assault rifle which has apparently been adopted by the Ukrainian Army.

Hamond is a small Ukrainian company designing and manufacturing suppressors from cal .22 to 30 mm. Engineer Evgeniy Moskalenko, the CEO and chief designer of Hamond, brought to IDEX a selection of cutaway models showing an array of different internal geometries.

Edelweiss Industries, not to be confused with the Swiss Edelweiss Arms, is truly an unusual find in a defense-oriented event such as IDEX. The small Austrian company, born out of the shooting range Edelweiss Adventure, offers an interesting array of Glock accessories.

The TRB RS9 Vampir is a rather unknown pistol from Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was briefly introduced to TFB readers by Miles in 2017. At IDEX 2019, TFB had a chance to get a closer look.

During the third week of February, Abu Dhabi, UAE, hosted the biennial event of IDEX (International Defence Exhibition & Conference). This is an expo where manufacturers of military-related items come from all over the world to display their production, possibly to sign very lucrative deals. Small arms aren’t one of the major drivers of the business, therefore they don’t get the center stage, however, the event is still a chance to get to see some firearms which may not be commonly known in the Western world.

The Firearm Blog would like to extend its thanks to reader and contributor Giorgio, who lent his journalistic services to us at this years IDEX conference in Abu Dhabi in February. Thanks, Giorgio!

The Firearm Blog would like to extend its thanks to reader and contributor Giorgio, who lent his journalistic services to us at this years IDEX conference in Abu Dhabi in February. Thanks, Giorgio!

TFB’s IDEX 2015 coverage is courtesy of Giorgio, who traveled to Abu Dhabi for the show, and provided all photos and information.

Caracal had their firearms on display at the 2015 International Defence Exhibition & Conference held in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The weapons included the CAR816, CC10 and CS308.

At IDEX ’11 Caracal unveiled a prototype for their first hammer operated pistol. Their current pistols are all striker operated.