FIGURES FROM EUROSATORY 2002 confirm its position as an international meeting place for land and land-air defence experts. There were:

• 830 exhibitors (of which 66 per cent were non-French companies)
• 39,000 visitors, 45 per cent from 120 different countries
• 46,000m2 indoor exhibitor space
• 54,000m2 outdoor exhibitor space
• 50,000m2 outdoor area for dynamic displays of armoured and wheeled vehicles and helicopters.

The international dimension

• 66 per cent of exhibitors came from 39 countries other than France
• 45 per cent of visitors came from 120 countries
• 122 high-level official delegations representing 72 countries.

The media

Extensive media cover highlighted the size and scope of Eurosatory and the diversity of the equipment on display. More than 500 press and media representatives from more than 25 countries covering Europe, north and South America, Asia, Africa and the South Sea Islands attended the exhibition. Over 30 newspapers and magazines exhibited at the show. A daily magazine was published and distributed at the show and also was posted on the show's website.

VIP visitors

Eurosatory 2002 was officially opened by the French Defence Minister, Mme Michèle Alliot-Marie. The show also welcomed M. Javier Solano, the European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, over 10 ministers and secretaries of state, 15 service chiefs and 122 official delegations representing 97 countries invited by the French government.

Eurosat contacts

Eurosatory is the only international business convention specialising in defence. Last year more than 250 companies took part. Senior representatives from prime contractors, sub-contractors and equipment suppliers from 20 countries met to discuss specific technical co-operative projects, either on their own stands or in the Eurosat Contacts meeting facility.

The latest technology

The 1000-plus products on show included SPERWER drones (Sagem), FOX-MLX (Cac Systems), a portable, solar-powered electric stealth aircraft (Technisolar), a laboratory vehicle with eight motorised and independently steered wheels (DGA), HDIR thermal cameras (Carl Zeiss), METAL Simulator (EADSGDI Simulation), ATMID difficult terrain mine detector (Schiebel), modular assault bridging (CNIM), Saratoga NBC protective clothing (Blucher).