Held in the Nürnberg Exhibition Centre, a trade fair for members of security agencies and the armed forces stretched out to almost six soccer pitches. Body armor, ballistic materials, and drones galore. From 26 to 28 February, BodyArmorNews.com recaps Enforce Tac 2024!
Expanding each year, the fair hosted 12,000 visitors from the military, police, businesspeople, and 730 exhibitors hailing from 43 different countries. Supported by Joachim Herrmann, the Bavarian Minister of the Interior, Enforce Tac was not only a platform to debut futuristic security solutions, but to debate issues of internal and external security in Europe.
Armor for an Armed World
Against the backdrop of a plateauing war in Ukraine, and escalating violence in Gaza, Europe’s love affair with justice, and the body armor industry is put to the test. From the ends of the supply chain, Enforce Tac saw a variety of armor materials manufacturers, modular plate carriers, ballistic body armor and helmets. In a world where a Turkish soldier in Cyprus needs as much protection as a young student in America, body armor is of paramount importance.
Appreciated by politicians and manufacturers alike, “Given the various crises and threats worldwide, Enforce Tac and its highly specialized range of solutions for security applications is more important than ever” says Joachim Herrmann.
Pitfalls of the Industry
The industry faces issues of all kinds: quickly saturating natural resources, a strained supply chain due to security agencies’ increased demand, trolls defaming a smaller company’s product, and the elephant in the room… developing sustainable solutions without compromising quality. Somewhere between cost control and winning government tenders, the body armor industry forgot about its end user.
BodyArmorNews.com asked industry leaders including Thomas Homberg from Mehler Systems, Jonathan McKendry from Cooneen Group, Thomas Poandl from Ulbrichts Protection, David Gatti from Invista Cordura, Serpil Gönenç Dinçer from Nurol Teknoloji, Karan Gupta from MKU Limited, Jonas Olesen from Protection Group Danmark, and Michael Forman from Point Blank Enterprises, for their advice to the rest of the body armor industry.
What would you advise your colleagues, for the best working conditions?
A Liberal Solution
Almost all our interviewees clamored for collaboration within the body armor industry. Aside from unified testing procedures and levels charted out by the National Institute of Justice, the body armor industry advises itself to cooperate with fellow competitors to manage, divide resources, and perhaps streamline efforts in research and development. Like a United Nations for body armor.
Eloquently put, “In terms of regulations, sustainability, innovation, working with end users, working with governments, the public sector, to drive that collaboration will mean hopefully, a better product for them, and giving us the inspiration to do more innovative products,” says Jonathon McKendry, in a postscript of our video.
Making it Happen
This being said, a medium for collaboration, a document or panel, was overlooked in dreams of a liberal working environment. More importantly, who will take the responsibility to orchestrate large scale, international cooperation? Big manufacturing companies, an alliance of small businesses, governments, or trade fairs such as Enforce Tac? The industry is ready.
