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Belgium’s Defense Innovation Push: Local Firms Showcase Next-Gen Military Tech at BEDEX 2026
Mar 20, 2026
Belgium is boosting its defense industry by showcasing cutting-edge technologies at BEDEX 2026, under the AWEX banner. Discover how local companies are shaping the future of military capabilities with AI, loitering munitions, and advanced systems.
In this video:
00:00 INTRO
00:25 AWEX pushes development of Wallonia companies in the defense industry; interview with Pascale Delcomminette, CEO of the Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency.
05:36 ALX Systems Geoffrey Mormal
10:04 LASEA, Pascal Durdu
14:25 Calyos Antoine De Ryckel
17:04 Phoenix AI , Laurent Renard
19:48 Contact details Army Recognition Group
20:03 OUTRO
More news BEDEX 2026 at this link https://www.armyrecognition.com/archives/archives-defense-exhibitions/2026-archives-news-defense-exhibitions/bedex-2026
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0:25
First, welcome to the CEO of AWEX to the
0:29
the booth of Army Recognition is one of
0:32
the most important media in the field of
0:34
defense.
0:35
We are now at BIDEC 2026. It's a really
0:37
important defense exhibition and the
0:39
first defense exhibition in Belgium.
0:42
First, can you introduce yourself and
0:43
speak briefly what is AWEX? So, I am
0:46
Pascale Delcomminette. I'm the CEO of
0:48
AWEX, which is the Wallonia Export and
0:50
Investment Agency. It's a public agency
0:54
working for Walloon companies trying to
0:57
help them to go global. So, supporting
0:59
them to export with international
1:01
partnerships, but also AWEX is in charge
1:04
of attracting foreign investment in
1:06
Wallonia.
1:07
Recently, there is an increase of demand
1:10
for defense.
1:11
And that's the reason for why Belgium
1:13
make an opportunity to create the first
1:16
international defense exhibitions. What
1:18
is this new approach of AWEX to be more
1:21
involved in the defense sector?
1:23
Yes, as you mentioned,
1:25
the sector of defense is evolving. It's
1:28
really undergoing a profound evolution
1:31
and all the value chains are evolving,
1:34
expanding also with more importance to
1:38
new sectors, new technologies. So,
1:40
that's why it's very important for us to
1:43
be here and to support our company. In
1:45
the support of defense, we have all the
1:47
big companies. You will have here
1:49
Sonaca, FN Herstal, Thales, John
1:52
Cockerill, for example. But, we are also
1:54
supporting smaller companies. On our
1:57
pavilion, we are we have 17 [music] SMEs
2:01
which are active in sector
2:04
in the sector of defense, but also
2:06
active using
2:08
in technologies that are developed for
2:11
civil uses, but now which are gaining
2:14
more opportunities in applications in
2:16
defense. So, that's what we're
2:18
supporting them to gain visibility and
2:21
to organize B2B matchmaking and also to
2:25
to create new opportunities of
2:27
partnership, technological partnerships.
2:31
There is several companies in Belgium,
2:34
but maybe some
2:35
some companies don't know about the
2:37
AWEX.
2:38
What you can offer
2:40
to maybe company who who can be
2:43
integrate to the defense sector and what
2:45
is your help? What is your offer? Yeah,
2:47
that's a good question.
2:48
So, we work on
2:51
on a program, an action program in the
2:54
a lot of sectors, but mainly in the
2:56
sector of the of defense.
2:59
This year in 2026, we will have 15
3:02
different actions in the sector of
3:04
defense. Actions means
3:06
missions we organize in the country and
3:09
also participating in specialized trade
3:12
fairs like BIDEC, for example. We will
3:14
be in Eurosatory
3:16
in June, for example. So, that that's
3:18
the kind of of action we are doing. We
3:21
are also mobilizing our economic and
3:24
diplomatic network in the world to be a
3:27
support for our companies. You know, to
3:29
enter some programs, to enter some
3:32
network which are important for them.
3:35
We are also supporting the attraction of
3:38
foreign investment to find, you know,
3:41
really to fill to fill in the gap.
3:44
Defense is about reindustrialization of
3:46
Europe. It's strategic for Europe. And
3:50
that's why we have to spot which are the
3:52
missing links and maybe to go outside,
3:55
to go abroad to get some new
3:58
investment that will be complementary
4:01
with the competences, with the companies
4:03
we already have in the in the sector.
4:06
All people, all companies can join AWEX
4:08
and use the services of AWEX. What is
4:10
the procedure to do that?
4:12
The procedure is very simple. You go to
4:14
your local
4:16
regional center of AWEX. There are three
4:19
of them for the moment. And and then you
4:21
you register and you have to go through
4:23
what we call
4:25
diagnosis of maturity, international
4:27
maturity. So, that we know precisely
4:30
with each company which is the maturity,
4:33
how we can help
4:35
them or each other the company better.
4:38
And then we can offer them all the all
4:41
the advice from our network outside, our
4:45
counselors in the
4:47
one more than 100 country, I would say.
4:50
They are active in more more than 100
4:52
country. We support the financing of
4:55
young talent which will work for the
4:57
company during 3 months or 1 year. So,
5:01
there are multiple diverse services that
5:03
we can offer to companies who wants to
5:06
go global and we are really helping them
5:08
also to work on their strategy. We have
5:12
a team in Wallonia
5:14
that is very specialized in defense. So,
5:18
working for AWEX and they work hand in
5:20
hand with small companies to to really
5:23
work and professionalize their strategy.
5:27
The next big defense event for uh
5:31
for AWEX is Eurosatory. It's it's the
5:33
most important defense exhibition in in
5:35
Europe. Can you mention that? Yes, yes.
5:38
We will meet probably at Eurosatory in
5:41
June and afterwards in
5:43
in July. Can you mention the name of the
5:45
website where people can find
5:47
information about AWEX?
5:48
>> Yes, sure. The so, the brand new site is
5:50
walloniaexportinvestment.be.
5:52
Thank you so much. Thank you. You're
5:54
welcome. Thank you.
5:56
First, welcome to Army Recognition
5:58
Defense Web TV. This is the official
6:00
online show daily news and web TV for
6:01
BIDEC 2026. This is the first
6:04
international defense exhibition. It's
6:06
also an opportunity for
6:09
Belgian companies to to showcase and
6:11
display latest innovation really
6:14
designed and manufactured in Belgium.
6:16
First, can you introduce yourself and
6:17
explain briefly what is your main
6:19
activity?
6:20
So, I'm Geoffrey Mormal. I'm the CEO of
6:23
Elix Systems and what we do is providing
6:27
on the front line drone able to attack
6:30
and defend
6:31
people autonomously.
6:34
Today, there is so many
6:37
defense company that produce drones,
6:40
counter drone solutions.
6:43
What is the unique features of your
6:45
product if you compare to drones
6:47
available to the current market?
6:50
There are several ones.
6:51
First one, we developed our software
6:54
since almost 15 years now to to be able
6:56
to to get the drone fully autonomous.
6:58
That means that we have a wide
7:00
experience in term of
7:01
flying drone, in term of issues with
7:03
drone and so on.
7:05
Which our competitors are experiencing
7:07
right now.
7:08
We did that since years. Second point is
7:10
that we developed everything in house.
7:12
So,
7:13
the hardware, the electronic, the
7:15
software, the AI. And that means that we
7:17
have the agility to modify everything
7:19
every time.
7:20
And that's what we do right now because
7:22
we are
7:23
testing our solution
7:25
on the battlefield in Ukraine.
7:27
We come back, we adapt
7:29
with what we experienced there.
7:32
And we can just we send your version
7:35
and we can adapt all the time
7:38
in the loop
7:39
with the new innovation on the other
7:41
side. And
7:42
since we are producing everything
7:44
ourselves, we can be way cheaper than
7:46
the competition.
7:48
You have two type of product. We have
7:50
the the drones, FPV drones for attack
7:52
drones. And you have also anti-drone
7:55
solutions. Can you explain the
7:56
anti-drone solution also that you
7:58
provide? Sure. So, the anti-drone
8:00
solution is based on two elements. So,
8:04
first of all, we have the drone that
8:05
will explode close to the target
8:08
and both will be destroyed. And we have
8:10
another one which will
8:14
fire the target. So, it will drop
8:18
flammable liquids and ignite them on the
8:21
target
8:22
to be able to attack a swarm of drone
8:24
with just one flight and come back
8:27
afterward.
8:28
And we do that fully autonomously. So,
8:29
we have all the intelligence on board
8:31
and the AI on board to target
8:33
automatically the drone itself.
8:36
It's very important to mention also
8:38
because
8:39
Belgium has many companies who develop
8:42
very unique tools, very unique
8:43
innovation.
8:44
Then it's one of the person Belgium
8:48
development and okay.
8:50
And
8:51
can you mention that
8:53
all the control is fully developed in
8:55
Belgium? We have our own
8:59
electronic that we designed ourselves
9:01
and which is produced in Belgium. All
9:03
the components on the PCB are coming
9:06
from Europe. Unfortunately, we don't
9:07
have everything in Belgium.
9:09
The software, we developed that
9:11
ourselves. We don't use
9:14
tools or library
9:15
from other
9:17
partners or from abroad Belgium or
9:19
whatever.
9:20
>> [music]
9:20
>> We have all the source code of what we
9:21
use and so we have the the we can master
9:24
everything we have as well for the AI
9:26
that we run on board on the machine or
9:28
remotely. Everything has been done on
9:31
our own. So, that means that if someone
9:33
wants to audit the the solution from end
9:36
to end, we have everything on the table
9:38
to to prove and demonstrate that
9:40
everything is owned by us.
9:42
And to finalize the interview, can you
9:44
mention where you are located, where we
9:47
can find information and your website,
9:48
please? Sure. So, we are located in
9:51
Liège in Belgium.
9:53
Our website is www.elixsys.com.
9:58
Alixsys.
10:00
Thank you so much. Thank you. Perfect.
10:30
>> [music]
10:31
>> Uh so I'm Pascal Lurdu working for
10:33
Lasea. Lasea is a Belgian company with
10:35
also subsidiaries in Switzerland, in
10:38
France, in the US.
10:40
And we are developing laser application
10:43
and machine that go with it to really
10:45
manufacture items elements.
10:48
And the application we develop are
10:49
mostly on micro machining. So it's
10:52
really machining and making small parts
10:54
or micro welding which is assembling
10:57
different type of parts together. That's
10:59
really the core business of Lasea. We
11:01
are active in electronic mostly
11:03
also with medical medical device. But we
11:06
are expanding a lot in aeronautics, in
11:09
space and defense. And that's why we are
11:11
here.
11:13
For your technology, what is the unique
11:15
features what you can offer with your
11:17
technology for the defense? Yeah. For
11:19
defense there are really new application
11:20
and sometimes they are already old
11:22
application but that they were not fit
11:24
for the the existing civil business but
11:27
they make sense for
11:28
for drones for example. So we are active
11:31
in surface functionalization. So we give
11:33
a purpose to a surface which means that
11:36
we are machining or using the laser to
11:38
do something on the surface at a nano or
11:41
micro level.
11:42
And by applying some laser on the
11:45
structure, we create some functionality
11:48
like hydrophily or hydrophoby that is
11:51
quite good for the icing. Which means
11:53
that
11:54
for a big plane when there is cold,
11:57
there would be ice popping up on the
11:59
wings of the plane. We did that in the
12:01
past but it was not successful because
12:03
after a while the functionality
12:05
disappears. But applying that for drones
12:08
because most of the time the drones will
12:09
not come back, then it makes more sense.
12:12
Another one is heat dissipation because
12:15
the by texturing we give more surface to
12:17
the air so we can send more power to the
12:20
outside, more heat. And then it's quite
12:22
good for batteries one more time for
12:24
drones but also for any system in
12:27
electronics that is eating a lot like AI
12:29
is eating a lot so we can create some
12:30
structures on the boxing on on the
12:32
system to put energy more away of the of
12:35
the device. We also create some meta
12:38
surface. So it's structures on the
12:39
surface and some patterns. And those
12:41
patterns can sometimes absorb some radar
12:44
frequencies or even infrared
12:46
frequencies. Or we can machine the
12:48
surface to change the wavelength of the
12:52
radiation that goes out. And if you have
12:54
a infrared camera, we can send the
12:56
wavelength in another
12:58
wavelength which means that the infrared
13:00
camera will not detect anything. So we
13:02
are playing on the stealth level which
13:04
is in development but we see more and
13:06
more application always for small drones
13:08
or flying drones. Today the technology
13:11
is not mature enough to make big big
13:12
surface but for smaller ones, it makes
13:15
sense today.
13:16
Currently we have already
13:19
delivered some of your solutions to to
13:22
the civilian market but you are ready
13:24
also to produce and to deliver for the
13:26
defense sector. Yes, that's the point
13:28
now. So we need to get adaptation
13:30
because stealth was not something for
13:32
the civilian market.
13:34
So our solution allow to improve the
13:37
efficiency of a plane by 2 3% so it's
13:39
saving on
13:41
on fuel consumption. The same applies
13:43
for drones with batteries and so on. So
13:46
it was not something the technology was
13:48
really nearly mature for the civilian
13:50
market but the defense market came so
13:53
fast with different request that we are
13:55
accelerating the development and the
13:57
deployment of that technology.
13:59
Then to finalize the interview, can you
14:01
mention again where you are located,
14:03
what is the name of your company and
14:05
maybe your website that we can find
14:06
information about your company? So the
14:07
company is Lasea l a s e a dot com.
14:12
We are based in Belgium in Liege at the
14:13
headquarter. We have a second office in
14:15
Mons in Belgium. We are active in
14:17
Bordeaux in France and Besançon. We have
14:19
an office in Bern in Switzerland and in
14:21
the US in San Diego. Thank you so much.
14:24
Thanks a lot.
14:25
So I'm Antoine. I'm working for a
14:26
company called Calyos and we are doing
14:28
passive cooling systems that are
14:30
actually resilient, reliable so there is
14:33
no pump to cool the the electronics. So
14:35
very defense
14:36
>> for the people what could be the value
14:38
of your system for the defense sector?
14:41
Well for the defense sector obviously
14:42
when you have a cooling system with a
14:43
pump, when the pump is failing, when you
14:45
are in a mission, that's not ideal. So
14:47
we are making system that are very
14:49
reliable, no pump so you can go in
14:51
mission without risk of failure. That's
14:53
the main advantage. Obviously we have
14:55
also advantage like noise, no pump, no
14:57
noise. So we are bringing some mission
15:00
advantage for the defense.
15:02
For example, you can integrate your
15:04
solutions to computer mounted on the
15:06
vehicles. What what what can be the the
15:09
solutions for
15:09
>> So the technology can be used in a lot
15:11
of application. It can be computers in
15:14
car uh cars not cars but army vehicles.
15:17
It can be radar systems for example that
15:19
need to be cooled down. It can be
15:21
power electronic systems for energy
15:22
storage. So it can be used really in a
15:25
lot of application where you have
15:27
electronics to be cooled down. So it's
15:29
very broad. Step by step we are working
15:30
with primes to integrate that in our
15:32
products.
15:33
Currently
15:35
your solution is used in the civilian
15:37
sector. It's also used in the civilian
15:39
sector. In the civilian sector we work
15:41
on automotive, electric vehicle, data
15:43
centers which is a big market for us and
15:45
computing application. That's really the
15:47
main application civilian Can you maybe
15:50
provide a sample what you can offer in
15:52
the defense sector?
15:54
Using your technology innovation in
15:57
defense solution. Yeah. So one example
16:01
that is true example, it was actually
16:05
a vehicle army vehicle where they had a
16:07
computer card to be cooled down and they
16:09
had an issue because it was getting too
16:11
hot. And so they used our technology to
16:13
cool it down with the chassis of the
16:14
vehicle. So the chassis of the vehicle
16:16
is really used as the cold source and we
16:18
transfer the heat from the electronic
16:20
card to the chassis of the vehicle to
16:21
cool it down. And the advantage there is
16:23
that you actually have a very simple
16:25
system that is not failing that is can
16:27
cool down the electronic cards that
16:29
needs to be cooled down. If you are not
16:30
cooling it down, it's not working
16:32
simply.
16:33
Okay.
16:35
Thank you so much. Can you mention
16:37
exactly your
16:39
the contact detail of your company,
16:40
address, website where you can find
16:42
information and contact you?
16:43
>> Yes, so the name of the company is
16:45
Calyos c a l y o s and we are based in
16:49
Belgium. And so you can find us on
16:50
Google. That's really the easiest.
16:52
>> Do you have a website? We have a
16:53
website. Can you mention the website?
16:55
The website is calyos-tm.com.
17:00
Thank you so much.
17:01
Yeah, thank you.
17:03
Thanks so much for
17:05
giving me the opportunity to speak here.
17:07
I'm Laurent I'm the CEO and founder of
17:09
the Phoenix AI company.
17:11
We are a Belgian company located in
17:13
Walloon region between Mons and Tournai.
17:16
And we supply edge AI to various markets
17:19
on a global scale. What does it mean
17:21
edge AI? What is the unique features of
17:24
your product?
17:26
Well the thing is
17:27
the product has been meant to be
17:29
completely integrated into third party
17:31
vendor systems. So basically we turn any
17:34
camera so it might be embedded cameras
17:36
or whatever cameras it may be into
17:38
something that's going to be very smart
17:40
and also because of the fact we are also
17:43
partner of Nvidia, we are able to use a
17:45
lot of hardware accelerator to be low
17:49
latency, very fast like high frame rates
17:52
and work with also high resolution
17:54
sensors.
17:55
We look for object that cannot be seen
17:58
by a humans because it's too fast, too
18:00
tiny, too
18:03
too fast moving, too long distance. And
18:05
basically we can bring something that's
18:07
going to be a
18:09
something beyond human vision
18:12
and in real time 24/7 of course. So it
18:15
turns regular cameras like camera that
18:18
was were streaming that content into
18:21
something that is event driven. Our
18:23
system will uh
18:25
be
18:27
a a PCB so it's an electronic card with
18:29
a GP unit. So it starts for instance
18:32
from a setup that's going to be 150 g.
18:35
So this is for to be set up on a
18:38
manpower I would say. And we have also
18:40
something that's going to be much more
18:42
powerful for instance to put on a
18:44
turret. That's going to be something
18:46
that will handle like something like 20
18:48
cameras at a time with a also tiny form
18:51
factor. At the moment we are mostly in
18:53
the civilian one.
18:55
So for instance we we work with the
18:57
different ports.
18:58
We make maritime
19:00
maritime surveillance at very long
19:02
distance. We are the
19:04
supplier of a very large company in
19:07
France active in the railway industry.
19:09
We are active for instance with a
19:11
security test technology here in
19:12
Belgium.
19:13
So it's the beginning of our story let's
19:16
say. But the thing that really matters
19:18
is the ability to integrate that
19:21
building block into third parties I
19:23
would say. Absolutely. So we are AI
19:26
experts from Digital Wallonia as well.
19:28
We are located between Mons and Tournai
19:31
in a small city that's called Peruwelz.
19:33
So we are you are all welcome of course.
19:36
We have a lot of stuff because we have a
19:39
lot of use cases that we cover already.
19:41
Not only defense but also mainly I and
19:44
security. Thank you so much. Thanks so
19:46
much.
22:46
>> Mhm.
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