It had originally been my plan to visit FUTURE FORCES in Prague and then SOFEX in Aqaba this month ~ but no plan survives first contact….. writes Bob Morrison.
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In the current fast-changing defence and security situation there really is no substitute for visiting specialist expos and exhibitions to keep abreast of evolving industry trends and see new equipment ‘in the metal’, which is why in addition to several events here in the UK so far in 2026 my cameras and I have visited shows in ten overseas countries from Belgium to Azerbaijan and from Poland to Saudi Arabia. Some, though by no means all of course, online defence sector websites and journalists rely heavily on ‘Artificial Intelligence’ to generate their content but although that can be the cheapest / easiest / fastest option, in my opinion it can also result in some utter tripe being posted by ‘armchair generals’ with little or no firsthand current knowledge….. but I digress.
To cut a long story short, I have been advised by my Cardiologist not to fly to the next two international expos after he gave my engine a bit of a decoke and rebore following a scheduled ‘Heart MoT’ on Friday and I really don’t want to ruin the sterling work he and his team undertook while I was in the operating theatre. For those who might be interested, I seem to be well down the road to recovery and although some might have spotted a slight slowdown in content uploads to JOINT-FORCES over the last few days I reckon normal service is close to full resumption; though I won’t be travelling quite as much for the next few weeks and I have also had to decline Rheinmetall’s kind invitation to a launch event in Wales during the week (Sorry Oliver).
Who knows, with unexpected time on my hands maybe now I’ll get around to fixing that dripping kitchen tap.
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