Its third foray of the year into the defence exhibition arena will see Denel with a high profile presence on home ground for the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) 2024 exhibition, starting tomorrow (Wednesday, 18 September) at Air Force Base (AFB) Waterkloof.
In February, the State-owned defence and technology conglomerate was in Saudi Arabia for the World Defence Show. Participation in the Riyadh event is seen as important for the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) market, a foreign one Denel targets alongside Asia, with participation in the Defence Service Asia (DSA) exhibition in May. Regarded as the top Asian exhibition of its type, the Kuala Lumpur event saw Denel show products and services ranging from landward defence to guided weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Making AAD even more important to Denel is that it will be the first appearance as a Department of Defence (DoD) entity, reporting to Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga. She is, as per an August announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa, now the shareholder representative [for government], in the wake of the disappearance of the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).
On this, Denel Chief Executive Tsepo Monaheng is quoted as saying: “The new structure places Denel at the core of the broader defence and security community and we are confident that it will lead to a fresh understanding of the value that Denel brings to the country as a strategic national asset”.
Ahead of the official opening by Ramaphosa on Wednesday, Monaheng said “most of our globally competitive products, especially those in the aerospace and landward domains, will be on prominent display”.
He is upbeat, notwithstanding the trials and tribulations brought on by what is known in South Africa as “state capture” – grand corruption elsewhere.
“Knowledge of, and interest in, Denel has not waned in recent years. Our reputation remains intact despite the difficulties that the company experienced. The quality of our products, services and people remains known in the defence and technology sectors,” a company statement has him saying.
One of Monaheng’s first tasks after being named the first permanent Denel chief executive in three years in March was a restructuring and rationalisation into four business units. Denel Aerospace, Denel Guided Weapons, Denel Landward and Denel Integrated System Solutions are strategic changes made “to consolidate operations and geographic footprint and ensure we provide optimal service to clients and stakeholders”.
AAD, according to him, is an opportunity to demonstrate Denel’s stability and recovery of “some critical skills” as well as bringing operations back online and ramping up delivery on key programmes.
Another development Denel will explain to clients – existing and prospective – at AAD is a technology roadmap. It aligns Denel with Armscor and the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research), specifically its defence and security cluster. The three-way link-up, the Denel statement has it, will ensure Denel required technologies are available to its primary client – the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) – and “other national stakeholders in the security and high technology sectors”.
Monaheng has it Denel’s turnaround “has gained critical momentum” and with “a dynamic leadership team in place” it can respond to shareholder expectations as well as providing an efficient delivery model for clients.
