Western Australia has secured the Land Forces 2026 International Land Defence Exposition, bringing the nation’s premier army conference and trade show to Perth for the first time. Set to run from 6 to 8 October 2026, the event is expected to attract more than 10,000 attendees including interstate and international visitors, marking one of the largest defence industry gatherings WA has ever hosted.
The event will be jointly supported by the State Government in partnership with Business Events Perth, reflecting the significant coordination required to stage a trade exposition of this scale and profile, one that brings together defence manufacturers, government delegations and military officials from across the world.
Why WA Pursued the Event
Defence Industries Minister Paul Papalia has described Land Forces 2026 as a huge opportunity for Western Australian businesses to showcase their world-class expertise, connect with global defence leaders and break into international supply chains, framing the event as directly aligned with the state’s strategic priority of diversifying its economy through growth in the defence sector.
The timing of the event coincides with a significant period for WA’s defence relationships more broadly, with nuclear-powered submarines from the United States and United Kingdom set to begin forward operating from HMAS Stirling at Garden Island from 2027 as part of the Submarine Rotational Force-West arrangement under the AUKUS partnership, adding further weight to WA’s case as an emerging hub for allied defence activity in the Indo-Pacific region.
Economic Impact for WA Businesses
Business Events Perth Chair Bradley Woods has highlighted the substantial visitor economy impact expected from drawing thousands of high-calibre international delegates to Perth, alongside the less immediately visible but potentially longer-lasting benefit of connecting local defence industry suppliers with international buyers and partners they might not otherwise encounter.
For WA’s growing base of defence-adjacent manufacturing and engineering businesses, many of which have built technical capability through decades of work in the state’s resources and offshore oil and gas sectors, Land Forces 2026 offers a rare opportunity to pitch directly to international defence procurement decision-makers without the cost and logistical complexity of travelling to equivalent events held overseas.
Part of a Broader Defence Industry Push
Securing Land Forces 2026 adds to a growing list of major defence and industry events WA has attracted in recent years, part of a deliberate state government strategy to position Perth as a genuine destination for defence industry conferences, trade shows and delegations, rather than an occasional host reliant on one-off event wins. The strategy aligns closely with WA’s broader ambitions, reflected in the recently passed State Development Bill, to establish the state as the largest naval shipbuilding and maintenance hub in the Southern Hemisphere.
What Visitors and Exhibitors Can Expect
As Australia’s premier army conference and trade show, Land Forces typically features extensive equipment displays, technical demonstrations and high-level policy discussions involving senior military and government figures from Australia and allied nations. Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, which has increasingly positioned itself as a venue capable of hosting large-scale international events, will provide the venue infrastructure needed to accommodate the scale of exhibitors and attendees expected.
What Comes Next
With planning now well underway ahead of the October event, WA businesses in the defence and advanced manufacturing sectors are being encouraged to register their interest in exhibiting or attending, positioning themselves to make the most of what state officials are billing as a landmark opportunity for WA’s defence industry ambitions. For a state increasingly betting on defence manufacturing as a pillar of its economic diversification strategy, successfully hosting an event of this scale carries significance well beyond the three days of the conference itself.
Security and Logistics Considerations
Hosting a defence-focused event of this scale inevitably involves significant security and logistical planning, coordinated between event organisers, Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre management, and relevant state and federal security agencies. Similar Land Forces events held in Brisbane and other host cities in previous years have typically involved road closures, restricted access zones and a visible security presence during the exposition, arrangements Perth authorities are expected to replicate for the October event.
Local hospitality and accommodation businesses in the Perth CBD are also gearing up for the influx of visitors, with hotels and convention support services anticipating a meaningful, if temporary, boost to demand during the three-day event and the days surrounding it.
For WA businesses in the defence supply chain, industry associations are already encouraging early registration and preparation, arguing that the businesses best positioned to benefit from Land Forces 2026 will be those that arrive with clear, well-prepared pitches for the international buyers and delegations expected to attend, rather than treating the event as a passive showcase opportunity alone.
The economic modelling behind securing major events like Land Forces typically accounts for direct visitor spending, indirect flow-on effects to the broader hospitality and tourism sector, and the harder-to-quantify but potentially significant longer-term investment attraction benefits, a combination Business Events Perth continues to cite in building the case for pursuing further major conferences and trade shows.
