FOLLOWING the long-awaited opening ceremony of the 4th Brunei Darussalam International Defence Exhibition (BRIDEX) 2013 at the BRIDEX Exhibition Centre, Jerudong, His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam consented to tour the two exhibition halls and visit several booths.

The exhibition halls were filled with over 90 international exhibitors comprising more than 140 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and service providers from over 27 countries ranging from Brunei, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Taipei, Turkey, UK, Ukraine and USA, showcasing the most recent and innovative defence equipment as well as security solutions.

The atmosphere at the exhibition halls was ecstatic as exhibitors and guests were excited to see His Majesty taking his time exploring the booths at BRIDEX’s Hall 1 and Hall 2 as well as interacting with them.

With the theme of ‘Bridging the Capability Gap’, BRIDEX 2013 aims to highlight the role of technology in addressing national defence needs, both traditional and non-traditional, which are in line with the Ministry of Defence’s current development priorities involving the enhancement of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities that include remote sensing technologies such as radars and electro-optics. - Borneo Bulletin (4 December 2013)