A marketplace of death and destruction – the International Military Helicopter conference

Human beings have traded weapons for several thousand years and there has been an organised international arms trade for about 500 years. But our weapons today are more lethal than ever before.

The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) reports that the UK licensed £31 billion worth of Standard Issue Export Licences from 2020-2024 and that most of these licences went to regimes with poor human rights records, top of the list being Saudi Arabia. The true figures for arms exports are thought to be considerably higher, given the use of secretive ‘Open Licences’ which have little transparency. 

The Financial Times records that BAE Systems, the leading arms company in the UK, announced record annual sales driven by European orders for fighter jets and armoured vehicles. The company predicted “robust earnings” for 2026, a benefit of rising military spending. Chief Executive, Charles Woodburn, commented that BAE was benefiting from a “new era of defence spending”. This strong performance would mean the company could continue to make investments and reward shareholders and it raised its dividend by 10% to 36.3p. Other important arms companies here are Leonardo UK, Babcock International, QinetiQ, Thales UK, and Chemring. They are all likely to benefit from Sir Keir Starmer’s plans for defence. At the recent Munich Security Conference, he announced that the UK should spend more and spend more quickly on defence.

We not only sell weapons abroad and continue to make deals and pursue profits from the arms trade, but we also host arms fairs and conferences to promote the trade.

In September last year the DSEI took place yet again in London. Our government tried to save face by not inviting an official Israeli delegation, but this was the height of hypocrisy as record numbers of Israeli companies received invitations to exhibit. CAAT reports that the Shut Down DSEI coalition united 130 groups from all over the UK and that the planned protest took police and arms dealers by surprise. The police response was extremely heavy-handed but this did not dampen the sense of unity and purpose:  “… a bloc of over 100 trusted people suddenly manifested itself outside the gates of DSEI …. Loud, militant, large banners, sound systems, chants and drums. A sudden explosion of beautiful resistance bathed in the early morning sun that shut down the main entrance into the ExCel Centre”. 

The International Armoured Vehicles Arms Fair was relocated from Twickenham Rugby Stadium, after successful protests by campaigners including the Richmond & Kingston Palestine Solidarity Campaign, to Farnborough Conference Centre where it took place in January this year. Representatives from the defence and weapons industry included Elbit Systems, BAE Systems and Leonardo, and, as reported by the Morning Star, one of the planes marketed at the event is the F-35 combat aircraft, used by Israel to bomb Gaza. Here the arms dealers were “confronted by the reality of their complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza”. The protest was called  “Say No to the Horror Show” and was organised by CAAT, Greater Rushmoor Action for Peace and East Berkshire Palestine Solidarity Campaign. CAAT’s Emily Apple commented, “Farnborough is a horror show; a marketplace for death merchants to peddle their horrific wares and profit from war crimes.”

This coming weekend, 24th to 26th February, the yearly International Military Helicopter (IMH) conference is due to be held at the Novotel London West. Some of the largest global arms corporations will meet government, military, naval and aviation officers. CAAT has called it a “marketplace of death and destruction”. Northrop Grumman, Thales and QinetiQ are among the sponsors and there will be speakers from weapons companies including Airbus, Leonardo, Collins Aerospace, Lockheed Martin and Rolls Royce.

Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, Rolls Royce, Collins Aerospace and Northrop Grumman are involved in F-35 component production. Israel has used F35s against the Palestinians including in an attack on a ‘safe zone’ in Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza in June 2024. The attack killed 90 people and injured at least 300. Israel has also used F35s against Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran. There is a link on the CAAT website to facilitate writing to Novotel to protest and increasing numbers of people are contacting their MPs about this immoral event.

CAAT publishes detailed information about the sales and the countries involved. In October 2025 a deal was made with Turkey that consisted of the purchase of 20 Typhoon jets from the UK for an eye-watering £8 billion, “a sale which aptly demonstrates the mega profits arms dealers make from global bloodshed”. 

And we have blood on our hands. Weapons are designed to kill. The manufacturing companies make huge profits to the delight of the shareholders and our UK government promotes this iniquitous trade. The arms companies are wealthy and the groups who protest have few funds in comparison and sometimes numbers may be few, but, wherever there are arms fairs or conferences, there will be protests, and the passion and commitment of even a small group can have a huge impact. 

“Never underestimate the ability of a small group of dedicated people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Attributed to Margaret Mead.