LAS VEGAS — The war in Ukraine and China’s growing threats to invade Taiwan have set the stage for militaries in both regions on a shopping spree in an unlikely locale: the annual international arm exposition staged in the nation’s No. 1 gambling destination.
Armed forces from Poland, Romania, and the Baltic States sent delegations to the annual SHOT Show 2023 exposition looking to bolster their homeland defenses by purchasing the latest in small arms warfare offerings.
Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and other Asian states also were part of foreign delegations from 115 nations that came to buy the latest machine guns and related military gear. But there were some surprising visitors as well, including contingents from China and North Korea.
Both the Europeans and Asians are responding to growing fears of war sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the need for their populations to better prepare and arm the kind of volunteer militias and civil defenses that sprang up inside Ukraine following Russia’s invasion nearly a year ago.
The selection was substantial. More than 52,000 people attended the three-day arms show, where more than 2,500 companies showed off arms and equipment at The Venetian resort and casino on the famed Las Vegas Strip.
A U.S. Commerce Department official attending the trade show said a total of 40 nations sent delegations to buy guns and related equipment at the show.
Hubert Marciniak, a Polish defense contractor, said the threat from Russia to his country, which neighbors Ukraine and hosts millions of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the fighting, is real and growing. As a result, Warsaw is bolstering defenses across the board with new ground and air forces.
Mr. Marciniak said the Polish government is very concerned that Russian aggression against Kyiv could be repeated against his country.
In addition to buying American M1 Abrams tanks, F-35 jets and “High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems,” or HIMARS from the U.S. government, the Poles are equipping troops and border guards with new weapons, most made in Poland.
Polish special operations forces, however, are buying U.S. machine guns, including Heckler & Koch compact machine guns on display at the expo. Border troops in Poland also are getting new machine guns as part of the defense buildup.
“Russia is our neighbor, but it’s also a crazy neighbor so we need to be prepared for what they are doing,” Mr. Marciniak said.
The Polish military is providing 60,000 new machine guns to its troops and border guards, and to new civil defense units known as the Polish Territorial Defense Forces.
For Polish special forces troops, “the machine guns are usually from the U.S.,” he said, noting the Heckler & Koch and two other models.
Asian interest
From Asia, military officials from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Philippines were all walking the aisles and visiting the boosts in Law Vegas, seeking to buy arms among the hundreds of automatic weapons and other military equipment on display at the three-day arms trade show that ended Thursday.
Taiwan’s government is said to be looking for new weapons as Taipei steps up military training as the threat from Beijing grows. The Taiwanese government recently announced a tripling of compulsory military service time from four months to one year.
The stepped-up military training is a response to increasingly belligerent language from China and the lessons learned watching the course of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A Japanese official declined to comment on Tokyo’s shopping list at the exposition. However, asked if the Japanese military is buying or selling at the show, a female member of the delegation said tersely: “Buying.”
Edmund Villavicencio, an arms buyer with the Negros Sports Exchange Guns and Ammo group in Bacolod City, Philippines, said his country recently loosened gun ownership restrictions amid concerns about threats of military expansion by China,
“We’re being lenient in allowing civilians to own guns,” Mr. Villavicencio said. “With all the tensions that are happening around Asia right now, they just want to defend themselves in response to whatever insurgencies or invasions may happen.”
Manila’s focus is on greater civil defense efforts for the domestic population, Mr. Villavicencio said.
In all, 115 nations sent representatives to the gun show, a show that included the latest in high-technology warfare gear.
At the high end of the spectrum was a new multi-barrel machine gun that can fire up to 2,500 rounds a minute. Another item showcased at the show was a new high-tech electronic warfare system that its maker said can knock out nearly two dozen drones at once.
Many of the militaries are looking for newer and advanced weapons in case the Russian and Taiwanese conflicts engulf their regions in a broader war and even a global conflict.
“That has definitely increased interest” in buying U.S.-made firearms and military equipment, the Commerce Department official said.
Despite a vast flow of U.S. and Western security aid over the past year, Ukraine sent a military delegation to the Las Vegas exposition. U.S. officials expect Kyiv’s armed forces to spend some of the $27 billion in U.S. aid on American weapons on sale at the show.
The annual arms show is hosted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which provided The Washington Times with a list of the 115 foreign nations either selling or buying small arms and military and law enforcement equipment.
“Based upon my military background, there is always an interest in providing the best product you can for your military so they can be successful in their missions,” said Mark Oliva, director of public affairs for the NSSF, said of the foreign arms shopping.
Chinese companies are among those in attendance, mainly for selling optics and gun sights, said Mr. Oliva.
A U.S. official at the conference said that Chinese spies in the past had been active at the show. Some were observed conducting covert electronic listening operations from backpacks.
Unlikely customers
One of the more surprising participants at the arms trade show was a delegation from North Korea, the rogue state under heavy U.S. and United Nation sanctions over its nuclear weapons programs.
Asked why North Korea was allowed to take part, expo spokesman Robert Brooks said: “NSSF can confirm the inclusion of North Korea on this list is correct, but we are unable to disclose any additional information.”
The North Koreans likely were allowed to take part so that U.S. intelligence agencies could find out what kind of arms the North Korean government is interested in copying or selling.
The Commerce official said such delegations are strictly monitored during their visit.
Among the Asian delegations were nations facing increasing Chinese military expansion in the South China Sea, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, along with military and defense officials from Japan and South Korea. No details of any small arms purchases could be identified from those nations.
But browsers got an early look some of the cutting-edge munitions on display. Among the new weapons was the XR338 five-barrel machine gun, known in military circles as a “mini-gun.” The machine gun is modeled after the military’s M134 minigun currently deployed on attack helicopters and C-130 gunships, but with a longer range.
“This is the most lethal gun in the world,” said a spokesman with Radical Firearms, one of two manufacturers of the gun, along with DTV Arms.
The new mini-gun was built in the past three months and includes a battery-powered firing mechanism that allows gunners to increase the rate of fire just by pulling the trigger.
A separate .308 caliber version with six barrels also was being offered for sale by the company, and two newer models with still different calibers are expected to be unveiled in the coming months.
One of the biggest emerging military threats involves the use of drone aircraft that can be used for intelligence-gathering, electronic warfare and gun or missile attacks. A hot item for both military and civilian use being sold at the expo was the HH-SP1 counter-drone zapper that the manufacturer says is capable of knocking out intruding drones within a nearly two-mile radius.
The square jammer is built by Vigilant Drone Defense, a Los Angeles company that has sold the device for use by the U.S. military and for civilian drone defenses.
A more advanced model can provide 360-degree defense against drone swarms up to three miles.