Who Is Exhibiting at ADEX 2026, From Baykar to Northrop Grumman

The exhibitor list at ADEX 2026 reads differently from any previous Baku show. Alongside the Turkish companies that have long anchored the exhibition, this year’s floor includes first-time stands from Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Rheinmetall, BAE Systems and SIG Sauer. In all, 280 companies and organizations from 30 countries are exhibiting through October 2.

The Turkish contingent at ADEX 2026

Turkiye is the most represented foreign country, with more than 50 companies. The group includes Baykar, ASELSAN, Roketsan, Turkish Aerospace, STM, HAVELSAN and TISAS, alongside land-vehicle makers showing hardware such as the PAMIR 4×4 and an upgraded KIRPI II. Roketsan is the exhibition’s General Sponsor. The scale is no surprise. Turkish systems, from Bayraktar drones to armored vehicles, have been central to Azerbaijan’s rearmament since before the 2020 war, and the two countries’ defense industries are increasingly intertwined. Our separate report looks at the Turkish presence in detail.

American companies arrive in force

The US presence is the story of this edition. Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, SIG Sauer, Vantor and Ondas are all exhibiting at ADEX for the first time, according to APA, and Northrop Grumman took the Country Partner sponsorship. US primes have long dominated Gulf and European shows but left the Caspian to Russian, Turkish and Israeli suppliers; a sponsored, pavilion-scale appearance in Baku is a deliberate signal, examined further in our piece on the American debut.

European and Asian exhibitors

Azerbaijan’s own defense companies

For the first time, the host country has a full pavilion to itself. Pavilion 4 houses Azerbaijan’s national exposition, where state-run plants and private firms show locally made drones, small arms, ammunition and armored vehicles. The Ministry of Defense Industry says more than 1,000 military products are now made domestically. We look at that push, and the export ambitions behind it, in a separate analysis.

What the lineup says about the market

Exhibitor lists are commercial statements. Companies pay for floor space where they expect contracts, and this year’s list suggests the industry sees the Caspian as an open, contested market: Turkish incumbents defending their position, Americans and Europeans arriving with sponsorships, and the host country trying to climb from buyer to seller. The contracts signed, or not signed, over the next two days will show which of those bets is right.

The sponsorship structure makes the contest explicit. Roketsan, the Turkish missile house whose guided weapons arm the Bayraktar drones in Azerbaijani service, holds the General Sponsorship, while Northrop Grumman, a company that had never exhibited in Baku before this week, bought the Country Partner slot. A show’s sponsors are usually its most committed sellers; at ADEX 2026 they represent the incumbent and the challenger in the same market.

There is also a supplier map worth noting among the smaller names. The Czech Republic’s Excalibur Army, part of the Czechoslovak Group, has become one of Europe’s busiest suppliers of artillery and ammunition since 2022; Spain’s Indra brings radar and electronic defense lines it has been selling across the region, most recently testing its Nimbus combat cloud with NATO; and the UAE’s EDGE Group has spent five years buying into and partnering with exactly the kind of mid-sized drone and munitions firms that fill these halls.