Bavarian State Government and City of Nuremberg to bolster Enforce Tac’s position in the coming years

Enforce Tac is already recognized as the leading German trade fair for defence and security. The distinguished speakers participating in a roundtable discussion held on the sidelines of this year’s Enforce Tac at the initiative of Dr. Florian Herrmann, Director of the Bavarian State Chancellery, highlighted Enforce Tac’s importance for Europe as well. They also promised to continue providing political and operational support. “Enforce Tac is a leading trade fair we can be proud of. Instead of leaving it at that, however, we intend to continue supporting the successful growth of this event,” said Dr. Florian Herrmann, who is responsible for defence and armed forces in Bavaria and is also the first contact for the German Armed Forces. Other prominent participants were Joachim Herrmann, Bavarian State Minister of the Interior, Sports, and Integration, Hubert Aiwanger, Bavarian State Minister for Economics, Regional Development, and Energy (also Deputy Premier of the Free State of Bavaria), Dr. Heiko Bauer, Chief Undersecretary of the Bavarian State Ministry of Finance and Homeland, and Andreas Krieglstein, Party Leader of the Nuremberg CSU, standing in for Nuremberg Mayor Marcus König. These gentlemen also declared their unreserved support for NürnbergMesse, Europe’s leading venue for security-related trade fairs.

In his opening speech to Enforce Tac on 23 February, just one day before the roundtable discussion, State Minister Joachim Herrmann highlighted Enforce Tac’s importance as an international platform for the entire security sector, with Sebastian Hartmann, Parliamentary Undersecretary from the Federal Defence Ministry, looking on. Under the patronage of Germany’s Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz for the first time ever, a step which Herrmann characterized as a logical consequence of the growing importance of this event, more than 1,300 exhibitors and more than 20,000 trade visitors came together in Nuremberg from 23 to 25 February 2026 to talk about innovations in the security sector, the future viability of the arms industry, and the ability of the Western alliance to defend itself, in face-to-face conversations and at numerous conferences, symposia, and partner events.

NürnbergMesse seen as a key centre of security dialogue in a time of great uncertainty

During the course of the roundtable discussion, the participating government officials and representatives of the City of Nuremberg, Bayern Innovativ, Bayern International, TechHub SVI, and other relevant entities in the worlds of business and science agreed that the future positioning of NürnbergMesse as a key centre of security dialogue, and specifically of Enforce Tac as the leading trade fair in Europe, supports Bavaria’s objective of becoming a driving force in matters of security. “Enforce Tac stands for a holistic and integrated security approach. It is where the leading representatives of suppliers, users, and scientific researchers of security and defence technology come together to discuss the future of our security. This trade fair is an integral part of a portfolio of security-related trade fairs that has already made Nuremberg the market leader in Europe today. We intend to raise this status to a whole new level with the political support that we feel most especially at the Bavarian level, and particularly to develop Enforce Tac, together with our customers and partners, into a central platform for internal and external security,” explained Peter Ottmann, CEO NürnbergMesse Group, in the course of the roundtable discussion.

In view of globally rising security needs, NürnbergMesse has already established itself as a key centre of security dialogue under the slogan “Three trade fairs. One goal. Europe’s security.” It backs this claim with specialized trade fairs that together cover all key areas of security. In addition to Enforce Tac, it-sa, Europe’s trade fair for IT security, and Perimeter Protection, the international trade fair for all security-relevant dimensions of perimeter protection, have made Nuremberg the leading venue for security trade fairs in all of Europe. In his discussions with the political decision-makers, Peter Ottmann explained how NürnbergMesse will live up to its leadership claim in the future: “We are working hard to enlarge our portfolio and align it with the needs of our customers in every way. However, we also need further political support at the level of the German federal government and within the EU.” The goal is to generate further growth with stronger networking, higher political visibility, and support from the security sector, to ensure that Bavaria holds a strong position in Europe’s defence architecture.

Clear division of responsibilities for greater success

After the roundtable discussion, Hubert Aiwanger also expressed his conviction that the chosen course is the right one: “Bavaria is ideally positioned to serve as a centre of the security and defence industry. Driven by innovations such as drones, satellites, and AI, the industry continues to grow at a rapid pace. This growth also challenges NürnbergMesse to keep up its own dynamic growth. Already today, Nuremberg hosts three strong security and defence trade fairs: Enforce Tac, it-sa, and Perimeter Protection. It is our goal to strategically strengthen the Bavarian defence eco-system.”

The first steps towards that goal were resolved at the roundtable discussion. First, the Bavarian State Government and the City of Nuremberg have explicitly declared their commitment to strengthening the role of Enforce Tac as the leading trade fair for security and defence and they have also promised to proclaim the importance of this event at the level of the German federal government and in Europe. Second, the future strategy for Enforce Tac that has already been elaborated, which calls for a further enhancement of the event’s quality, will be pursued intensively. In addition to surface area growth, the organization also plans to exhibit more heavy military equipment in the exhibition halls.