Page 63 - Protec PR Book Volume 2

This year’s live military demonstration attended by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai; His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces; Crown Princes of all the emirates; defence ministers and senior military officers from 57 nations, head of delegates and other senior officials, comprised of a breath-taking, all-action display that highlighted the capabilities of many divisions of the UAE Armed Forces.
IDEX, the main event organiser in conjunction with ADNEC & the UAE Armed Forces, used Protec to design, produce, direct and build the entire temporary venue for a show that was complicated and challenging. Eddie Andradé, the show’s creative director explains, “This show involves jets and helicopter fly pasts that have to be timed to the precise second to match up with the action sequences on the staging area performed by armoured vehicles, infantry, special effects that include large pyro explosions on land and on the mountains, water explosions, between the show caller, stunt director and choreographer, special effects crew, stage managers, video, audio, cameras, the Navy, the Land Forces, the pilots, the Airport, the air bases, air traffic control, road traffic control, the police and civil defence.”
Protec’s founder and CEO – Stephen Lakin, was in charge of building the entire scenic set said, “Under the temporary venue that Protec built, were the exhibition centre’s utilities and drainage systems which had to be protected by the weight of the military vehicles some which weighed in excess of 60 tons. Therefore it had to be built up to 1m above the existing surface, graded up with sand, road base and tarmac/asphalt”, said Lakin. Protec also built a temporary 65m long x 30m wide x 1m high ‘lake’ which held 2million litres of water on which jet boats and a submarine were run to get involved in the action. Lakin adds, “We added working waterfalls that we built into the mountain set along with artificial greenery to complete the scenic visual.”
Protec’s staging department built all the supporting features and props. A 100m long railway track that was shipped from the UK was put together on site by them which was then complimented by a working train that was built out of timber and submarine was built with steel frames and timber and had room for 6crew in it, as well as a working hatch for the crew to emerge out of it on the lake during the show to join the action.