History

INTERNATIONAL DEFENCE EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES EXHIBITION “HEMUS”

"TRADITION, outstanding PERFORMANCE, crisis RESILIENCE "

„An Event where the West and the East match interests“

„А Platform on which the European Union meets its partners“

The biennial specialized International Defence Equipment Exhibition “HEMUS” was established in 1995 with a decision of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria to be held at the International Fair Plovdiv venue.

The Exhibition is held under the patronage of the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Economy and Idustry and Ministry of Innovation and Growth of the Republic of Bulgaria.

“HEMUS-95” Foundation, the Principal of which is the Ministry of Defence, has undertaken the financing of the Exhibition and the immediate arrangements.

Over the course of its over 31 year existence, the Exhibition has pursued and achieved its main goal - to give an impetus to the development of the Defence Industry, providing the manufacturers and business people a focal point to showcase armaments and combat equipment along with the whole spectrum of defence assets. The Forum creates opportunities for the establishment of joint-venture enterprises, maintenance and repair activities and joint innovative Research & Development projects in the area of defence and security.

Since 2011, the concept of the Exhibition has been expanded and enriched to involve three more perspectives: Defence, Antiterrorism and Security. Special role has been assigned to innovations and research and development promoted by scientific conferences, demonstrations and test firings, presentations of academia and higher educational institutions, etc.

The Sixteenth edition of the International Defense Equipment and Services Exhibition "Hemus 2024" took place from June 5 to 8, 2024 at the Plovdiv International Fair. The event took place in complex geopolitical and economic conditions. Despite the challenging environment, Hemus 2024 achieved significant growth in all trade parameters compared to the previous edition of the exhibition in 2022. In particular, Hemus 2024 expanded the covered exhibition area to accommodate the increased number of exhibitors. For the first time in more than 14 years, three exhibition halls (Halls 3, 7 and 6) were being used at Hemus 2024. On an exhibition area of a total of 5177 sq.m. , of which 2820 sq.m. covered and 2357 sq.m. opened, 157 exhibitors were presented, of which 80 Bulgarian and 77 foreign from 25 countries. Among our esteemed exhibitors, to whom we offered hosting, was once again a Contingent from the US Land Forces, which participated in the Static Display together with Bulgarian military formations.

The Bulgarian academic environment continued to show significant interest, with a total of 12 scientific units and higher education institutions participating as exhibitors in Hemus 2024, of which 5 were military and 7 were civil.

Overall, regardless of the complex economic and geopolitical situation in the world, the achieved commercial parameters of "Hemus 2024" exceeded by 10% to 60% the achieved of the previous edition.

This edition of the exhibition caused widespread interest and visits from a number of representatives of the Bulgarian state institutions, from official delegations and guests of the Minister of Defense, from delegations of international organizations, from the diplomatic corps, from representatives of Bulgarian and foreign business and last but not least from many Bulgarian and foreign citizens. On the Bulgarian side, the exhibition was opened and viewed by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, by Member of the Parliament, by the Minister of Defense, by Deputy Ministers of Defense, of Economy and Industry and of Innovation and Growth, by the Deputy Chief of Defense, by the Commanders of the Services, generals and admirals.

The exhibition was also visited by a total of 24 foreign delegations, 17 of which were on a bilateral basis, guests of the Minister of Defense and 7 delegations from international organizations. Along with the official delegations, Hemus 2024 had visitors from 45 countries from Europe, North and South America, Africa, Australia and Asia. A number of countries were represented as visitors and by their Defense attachés accredited in Sofia.

The total number of visitors to the exhibition and the accompanying events exceeded 3,000 people, which represents a positive trend that has persisted over time after 2018.

The exhibition and accompanying events were covered by representatives of over 57 Bulgarian and foreign media.

The exposure in practice continues to cover the full development cycle of a defense product or service – education, training, innovation, R&D, production, commercialization, acquisition, life cycle suppor and utilization. The expanded international participation and strong international, European and Euro-Atlantic interest in the exhibition made it a high-level international forum for the realization of interests, both in the business-to-business, state-to-state and business-to-state domains.

The exhibition was opened by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria and Supreme Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Rumen Radev. The Minister of Defense, Atanas Zapryanov, addressed the exhibitors and visitors with a greeting.

"Hemus 2024 " has established itself as an extremely successful platform for business meetings of all kinds - g2g, g2b, b2b. More than 60 business meetings of various types were requested, organized and held, both at the request of the delegations and other visitors, and at the request of the exhibitors themselves.

Regarding the g2g format, all official delegations held business meetings with the leadership of the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense, and many of them - bilaterally. Another event of the same format was held on June 7 - the Balkan-Ukrainian Defense Industries Forum.

A significant g2b event was the signing of an Agreement under the Industrial Cooperation Program between Lockheed Martin and Avionams JSC. In the same format ( g2b) was the presentation of Egypt's military factories by the Egyptian Ministry of Defense Industry.

Traditionally, the Exhibition was accompanied by a Dynamic and Static display of weapons, armaments and equipment of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Ministry of the Interior of the country, Live Firings, a Scientific Conference and an Industrial Forum.

Immediately after the opening and according to the tradition restored in 2020, an aviation dynamic display was held. Two MiG-29 aircraft from the Bulgarian Air Force took part in the show. The dynamic display of this year's edition was expanded with another event - demonstrations on the exhibition grounds by the Joint Command of the Special Forces.

The Static Display included armaments and equipment of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Ministry of the Interior of the country and the European Command of the US Armed Forces.

The Live firings within the framework of the International Defense Equipment Exhibition "Hemus-2024" took place again at the Central Artillery Technical Test Range (Zmeyovo Range). 14 companies and organizations (two of them foreign) took part in the demonstration shootings and demonstrated 40 types of new defense products.

The Twelfth International Scientific Conference was held within the framework of the Security, Defense and Space Research and Innovation Week. This new accompanying event was under the joint patronage of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU and the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Bulgaria and was dedicated to the 155th anniversary of the establishment of Bulgarian Academy of Science (BAS) and the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Defense Institute. The scientific forum was jointly organized by the Defense Institute - Ministry of Defense and the National Security and Defense Research Center at the BAS (CINSO-BAS). The event was opened with a plenary session, after which, along with the Twelfth International Scientific Conference aimed at the development of technologies and opportunities to increase the defense capabilities of the armed forces, innovations in security and defense and the experience of the war in Ukraine, the regulatory framework for scientific research, the existing financial instruments for the implementation of defense innovations were held: Seminar - "Using satellite data for disaster risk management", Seminar - "Space for a sustainable future" and the Innovation Hackathon HEMUS - "Space for a green, sustainable and secure Europe" with the support of the National Science Program "Security and defense".

The meeting of the industrial forum was on the topic "Opportunities for the Bulgarian defense industry in view of the increased efforts to promote European and Euro-Atlantic cooperation in the field of armaments". The Forum attracted the participation of a wide range of representatives of the Bulgarian and European institutions, as well as representatives of the Bulgarian and foreign defense industry, scientific institutes and organizations. In the discussions took part Stacey Cummings, General Manager of NSPA, a representative of the Directorate-General for Defense Industry and Space of the EC, representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Industry, the Institute of Defense and the Ministry of Defence.

Drawing on the accumulated experience and long tradition, relying on established contacts and business relationships with our partners from the EU, NATO and worldwide, recognizing mutual benefits, we look ahead with optimism to the next International Defence Equipment Exhibition “HEMUS 2026”.

WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO WELCOMING YOU AT “HEMUS 2026”!