Fourth LAD-2003 International Arms Exhibition Opens in Rio de Janeiro

The 4th LAD-2003 international Exhibition and Conference of Defense Technology opens Tuesday in Brazil in the Riocentro, the largest display center in South America not far from Rio de Janeiro. LAD-2003 is Latin America's most significant international forum displaying arms and special military equipment for all types of armed forces and power agencies.

The main part of the exhibits will be on display in the pavilion where the participating companies show mainly mock-ups of arms they manufacture. Official delegates may see the real arms in the port of Rio de Janeiro, where, apart from Brazilian warships, a number of foreign men-of-war will be shown. Demonstration flights will be at the Santa Cruz air base and demonstration of fire exercise will be held at the Marambaia firing range.

According to the Forecast International/DMS research center, the capacity of the market in Latin America is to rise from 28 to 32.2 billion dollars between 2002 and 2005. The countries in the region, a report issued by the center said, are increasingly active in the UN peacekeeping operations, and are stepping up struggle against terrorism and drug trafficking, which also requires appropriate equipment.

Ten Russian defense facilities, too, will display their output at the LAD-2003 exhibition, a RIA Novosti correspondent was told in the press service of Rosoboronexport federal state unitary enterprise. Under its auspices Russian defense manufacturers take part in this prestigious arms show for the fourth time. This time they display a large number of R&D works, which reflects the mutual striving of Russian arms exporters and their Latin American partners for not confining themselves to traditional arms exports but going over to technological cooperation.

Russian aircraft is displayed at LAD-2003 on a large scale as usual: the Sukhoi aircraft manufacturing company, the Sukhoi design bureau and the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft manufacturing facility show the whole series of Su-27 multi-purpose fighters; the Kazan helicopter works and the Kamov company demonstrate ground-based and ship-based helicopters, while Tactical Missile Corporation from the Korolyov town near Moscow will show a number of aviation missiles designed for various purposes.