38th AFCEA Trade Exhibition
World Conference Center Bonn
AFCEA Trade Exhibition
The 38th AFCEA trade fair 2025 with exhibition and an extensive conference program took place from May 27 to 28 at the WCCB in Bonn. This event was organized by AFCEA Bonn e.V. – Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.
“Participants in the AFCEA trade exhibition include companies, organizations, and government representatives from the field of internal/public security, as well as exhibitors ranging from small businesses to representatives of large corporations, from IT consulting firms to IT training providers, and from hardware suppliers to suppliers of highly specialized software applications.”
Venue
Almost 8,000 trade visitors and around 300 exhibitors came to the World Conference Center Bonn (WCCB) over two days to discuss the possibilities for increased technological sovereignty and defense capabilities at AFCEA 2025. AFCEA Bonn is considered one of Germany’s most important ICT trade fairs for defense and security. The trade fair took place for the 38th time. In a separate exhibition area, young start–ups had the chance to present themselves and showcase their portfolios to industry experts.
Agenda
Agenda and format of the event: 38th AFCEA trade exhibition.
Startup pitches
Outstandingly innovative founders were given the opportunity to present their ideas to a high–caliber audience in the plenary hall during exclusive pitches combined with a panel session in order to convince potential customers and investors.
“Startup. Innovate. Disrupt. Secure.” – Shaping Germany’s resilience at AFCEA.
Several startups presented promising products from their young companies that have the potential to revolutionize the defense industry. The following start-ups made it to the final round:
Impressions
Rheinmetall
The Battlesuite, which is based on blackned’s Tactical Core, was presented to the public by Timo Haas, Chief Digital Officer (CDO) of the Rheinmetall Group and CEO of the Division Electronic Solutions located in Bremen.
Google & BWI
Google Cloud Public Sector – Germany GmbH and BWI GmbH have announced their cooperation on “Google Cloud Air-Gapped.” BWI will set up a cloud environment in its own data centers and operate it as a private cloud for the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr).
“Resilient and secure cloud solutions for the armed forces”
DEFAINE
Startup pitch DEFAINE builds autonomous micro–UAVs to protect against hostile drones and loitering munitions.
General Vetter, Bundeswehr
Lieutenant General Michael Vetter serves in the Air Force of the German Armed Forces and is Head of the Cyber and Information Technology (CIT) Department at the Federal Ministry of Defense. He is also responsible for all IT and cyber matters in the German Armed Forces.
Lieutenant General Vetter, CIO of the German Armed Forces, gave an entertaining introduction to the topic of software–defined defence (SDD).
“Software Defined Defense. is a paradigm, which aims to bring the agility and flexibility of software to improve the speed of evolving, adapting and deploying defense capabilities.”
Keynote day 2
Keynote speech 2nd day by Dr. Fabian Mehring, Bavarian Minister of State for Digital Affairs, in the old plenary hall of the Bundestag.
Impressions of the Keynote speech by Dr. Fabian Mehring.
“Today, almost 26 years after the parliament and government moved to Berlin, Germany and Europe are once again at a historic turning point. In a world where data is the treasure of the future and technologies such as AI, cloud computing, and quantum computing determine our sovereignty, fundamental questions are once again at stake.”
“We must not allow ourselves to be blackmailed when it comes to key digital technologies. AI and the like will determine who acts sovereignly in the future and who remains dependent. We need a healthy degree of digital sovereignty and genuine freedom of choice in infrastructure and technologies within the European Union. This can only be achieved if we dare to be more European and pool our strengths.”
Exhibitors
Enclosed a brief selection of exhibitors who presented their products and services.
Airbus
Blackned
Hensoldt
Rohde & Schwarz
SAP
Further information
Next event 2026
The 39th AFCEA trade exhibition is scheduled to take place again in Bonn on May 12 and 13, 2026.
