The World Defense Show 2026 was held from 8 to 12 February 2026 at the Riyadh Exhibition & Convention Centre, some 70 km north of down-town Riyadh. This was our first visit to the country and we were not disappointed.
The WDS is a well-organised show held at a dedicated 800.000m2 venue that has its own 2.7km runway. Other key numbers, as disclosed after the show, are impressive too:
- 1,486 exhibitors participated in the show, representing 89 countries
- 513 official delegations attended, representing 121 countries
- 137,000 trade visitors attended from 149 countries
- SAR 33 billion in announced defense deals were signed
- Participation from all of the world’s Top 10 defense companies
- Representation from 61 of the Top 100 global defense firms
It is a unique opportunity to sample some of the latest Saudi military aircraft. Helicopters stole the show. Seen here is one of the eight CH-47F ordered in 2021 and delivered in 2022. These are operated by the Royal Saudi Land Forces' 3rd Aviation Group out of King Abdulaziz Military City.
Saudi Arabia has been a long-time user of the AH-64 Apache, starting in the early nineties with twelve A-models in 1992. These were upgraded to D-standard in the 00/10s. The initial plan to obtain 72 more D-models seem to have been altered into two batches of 36 AH-64E Guardians. These equip the Land Forces as well as the National Guard. Seen here is one of the second instalment of 36, a Saudi Arabian National Guard machine.
Another couple of helicopters that can be found in abundance within the Saudi defence forces are the H215M (AS532) Cougar like this Air Force's 66 squadron aircraft from Khamis Mushayt. Of course, the Black Hawk is the most numerous with the USA being a close ally. This particular airframe is an UH-60M that belongs to the Land Forces.
Even more rare are the National Guard AH-6i and MD530F 'Little Birds' and Royal Saudi Naval Forces MH-60R helicopters. The latter being parked at the centre court in case you have missed it.
Every year, the Royal Saudi Air Force honours the birth of the Kingdom by specially painting some aircraft, in 2027 it will be the 95th anniversary and royal blue was the colour of choice.
But first and foremost it is a trade show with ample halls housing countless booths as well as outside displays. Especially the guests from Pakistan were nice to encounter. The Super Mushshak has enjoyed quite a spree of sales successes lately, with Qatar, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Türkiye and, Iraq being the latest customers of this highly upgraded and modernised Saab 15. The JF-17 needs no further introduction either. Especially for the Block-III version, equipped with an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, the customers are lining up, Azerbaijan being the first recipient of that version.
The Americans were present with a large delegation also. The static had an A-10C, a KC-46A, an MC-130J, a F-15E, an F-16C, an MH-60S and, an UH-60M. Two F-16C performed a daily flypast, as did an F-35.
Various manufacturer's brought their machines to show to interested customers such as the Air Tractor AT-802, Gulfstream 500, Textron AT-6, Bell 505, Diamond DA-62, Airbus H175.
Of course, stars of the show were the aerial demonstration teams. The Saudi Hawks to begin with.
The Korean Black Eagles aerial demonstration team was also part of the daily airshow.
Solo demonstrations of the EF2000...
...and the F-15 of the Royal Saudi Air Force were awesome too.