Deutsche Gesellschaft für Wehrtechnik (DWT)

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Wehrtechnik e.V. (DWT, German Association for Defence Technology) was founded in 1957 as the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Wehrtechnik with the support of the Federal Ministry of Defence and has carried its present name since 1967. It is a registered association recognised as non-profit and is based in Bonn. Its stated purpose is to promote education in security and defence policy, defence technology and the defence economy, and in this way to contribute to equipping the Bundeswehr as well as possible. The DWT describes itself as a neutral and independent platform for dialogue and information between the Bundeswehr, research, industry, politics and society.

Members are individuals as well as companies and institutes. According to the German Bundestag lobby register, the association had 1,137 members at the end of 2025, of which 845 were natural persons and 292 were companies or other organisations. The DWT is led by a presidium under president Claus Günther and an executive board chaired by Generalmajor (ret.) Wolfgang Gäbelein, who took office in October 2025. Its bodies include the Arbeitskreis Mittelstand for small and medium-sized defence companies, the Initiativkreis Zukunft, an advisory board in Brussels, regional sections across Germany and technical working groups, for example on military additive manufacturing and on optics and optronics.

Its events are organised by the Studiengesellschaft der DWT mbH (SGW), an economically independent subsidiary that runs conferences, symposia and exhibitions on defence technology, the defence economy and security policy, most of them in Bonn. The programme includes the long-running forum Unmanned Systems (Unbemannte Systeme), whose twelfth edition is planned for June 2027, as well as conferences on electronic warfare, cyber defence, space security and Bundeswehr logistics, and the DWT Marine Workshop. The DWT also awards a study prize and a future prize.