Eurosatory 2026: contrasts and ambiguities…

The Eurosatory trade show—described by its organizer, COGES (a subsidiary of GICAT*), as the world’s largest exhibition for land and air-land defense and security (in other words, the arms industry)—took place from June 15 to 18, 2026, at the Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre.

Spanning over 185,000 m², the event hosted 2,633 exhibitors from 67 countries, 60,000 trade visitors, 900 journalists from around the globe, and 440 official delegations representing 95 countries.

COGES hailed "the exceptional mobilization of the global defense and security ecosystem and the wealth of exchanges that animated the show throughout the week."

The next edition of Eurosatory will be held in Paris from June 19 to 23, 2028.

A showcase of the French government’s political commitment

Ukrainian killer drone

Against the backdrop of global rearmament, Eurosatory 2026 highlighted key strategic trends: multi-domain superiority, standoff combat, land maneuver and air mobility, comprehensive security, crisis management, and industrial resilience.

Leading up to the event, organizers noted that the "front line now dictates industry trends"—citing, for instance, how drones and onboard software are increasingly born from battlefield experience rather than laboratory development.

The demonstration zone was completely redesigned to reflect the realities of modern warfare: trench fighting, 3D maneuvers involving drones, and CQB (Close Quarters Battle).

Ukrainian ballistic missile

However, with eight times as many Ukrainian exhibitors as at the previous show—and their pavilions prominently displayed in the exhibition halls—it was impossible to ignore France’s active support for Ukraine in the ongoing conflict. It is worth noting that Russian and Belarusian exhibitors remained banned this year.

We observed that the long-standing principles governing previous editions of the show—such as "no displaying lethal weapons" or "avoiding any suggestion that these systems could harm civilian populations"—were swept aside this year in favor of Ukraine, which proudly showcased devastating hardware: including kamikaze drones, drones armed with machine guns or bombs, ballistic missiles, and more.

The icing on the cake: the ballistic missile on display (or a realistic replica?) was accompanied by a video demonstrating its "combat-proven" status on the Ukrainian front...

Yet another affront to Israel !

For a long time, Israel has been a global leader in the manufacture of land and air defense and security systems, "systems of systems," and the software that powers them.

walls of shame

This year, 13 Israeli companies had booked and paid for their presence at Eurosatory 2026: Airwayz, Avnon Enterprise Ltd, Elbit Systems, Esh-Tech Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Imco Industries Ltd, Netline, PCB Technologies, Plasan, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, RP Optical Lab, SCD, and Tomer.

The day before the trade show opened to the public, the French government asked the organizers to screen off at least five of the 13 Israeli stands. Granted, these were not the biggest players—not Elbit or Rafael—but rather newer, smaller companies. They found themselves enclosed by grey Placoplatre walls that looked uncannily like concrete—reminiscent of the "Wall of Shame" built in Berlin during the Soviet era!

leonardo tank

These companies were effectively rendered invisible on the pretext that they had failed to comply with the show's regulations—a classic case of "give a dog a bad name and hang him." It is laughable when you consider that Gilat—which was effectively subjected to "apartheid" treatment—manufactures inverters and bandwidth equipment, while just ten meters away, Ukrainian killer drones are on display... and twenty meters further on, Leonardo is exhibiting a tank that surely doesn't fire nothing but candy...

What hypocrisy!

When the French government says it wants neither Russians nor Belarusians present, it simply tells them "Out!"—so they don't book a stand, and the matter is settled. But to invite the Israelis, only to screen them off and mistreat them on the morning of the opening—after they had already set up—looks suspiciously like harassment. That, then, is the full extent of the hypocrisy surrounding the Eurosatory trade show, where French government ministers came to strut about, all smiles, as they strolled through the aisles. AE

* GICAT : Groupement des industries françaises de défense et de sécurité terrestres et aéroterrestres anciennement Groupement des Industries concernées par les matériels de Défense Terrestre

 Photos credits : AE