TECH PROFILE
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IDEX 2019 OPENING CEREMONY FROM THE MILITARY JETS AND DRONE SWARMS CREATING UNPREDICTABLE SKIRMISHES, TO FAST MOVING ARMOURED VEHICLE PURSUITS OCCURRING AMIDST FIREFIGHTS ON THE GROUND. IDEX 2019’S OPENING CEREMONY SEES 25,000 VISITORS WITNESS LIVE ACTION OVER THE COURSE OF FIVE DAYS, TPMEA DISCOVERS...
Packed with movie grade special effects, pyrotechnics and working waterfalls, the blockbuster style performance took place in a 60m x 350m custom stage set built over a car park overlooked by a grandstand in Abu Dhabi. Protec delivered everything from the initial creative concept and narrative to the original set design, graphics, build, complete show delivery and coordination completely transporting the audience to an active ‘war zone’ where the story takes place. Engaged for the fourth consecutive time to create and produce this grand opening ceremony for IDEX, Protec pulled out all the stops to ensure that the 14th edition of IDEX was one to remember. With IDEX celebrating its Silver Jubilee year, the stakes were expectedly high and the pressure to deliver this ‘mother of all shows’ proved to be the catalyst for Protec to step up and deliver beyond all expectations. Where else would you see a live piece of drama that involved perfectly synchronised fighter jets and military aircraft all
tying in with explosions and firefights on land and sea? SETTING THE SCENE The show began with a mix of local heritage performances followed by local and international military parades to welcome the crowd before the main part of the show. The scene was set for an exciting battle enactment of a fictitious scenario where an elite military group representing the Land Forces, Special Forces, Navy and Air Force were deployed in a coordinated and synchronised manner to deal with rebel militia. Working closely with senior representatives of the Armed Forces, Protec introduced modern and advanced military techniques augmented by VR, AI, robotics and SATCOMS. It also incorporated underground battles and other asymmetric warfare trends with futuristic counter defence systems in a live demonstration like no other in the world. It was a technology demonstration worth the dedicated staging set that Protec built
up for the show for all five days this show was run. In the fictional scenario conceptualised by Protec, armed militias had seized an abandoned military base near a mine depot, smuggling arms by sea and through a hidden underground network of tunnels connected to a long range missile facility. A combination of ground, naval, air and other specialised units equipped with futuristic counter defence systems were then deployed to deal with the threat. THE CLIMAX Tanks and armoured patrol vehicles repeatedly roared onto the stage from both sides carefully choreographed to create nail biting suspense. Apaches, Blackhawks and jets screamed overhead sending vibrations through the crowd while the battle was even taken underground into the mine tunnels taking the audience on a vicarious journey into the future of warfare. Friendly armed forces used modern and
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