Manufacturing News South Africa

Denel: No orders for Rooivalk

According to Fin24, state weapons company Denel has not managed to secure any foreign orders for its Rooivalk helicopter. The parastatal's chairperson Zoli Kunene said at a public enterprises department media briefing that Denel had delivered 11 Rooivalk at a cost of R6bn to the SA Air Force.
Denel: No orders for Rooivalk

Six more Rooivalk would be delivered to the SAAF later this year. "We don't have new any orders presently in (the) pipeline," Kunene said. Denel undertook to continue maintaining the SAAF's attack helicopters for the duration of their lifetime. This, he said, would cost between R80m and R90m a year. "Denel Aviation will maintain these aircraft and has [the] capacity to [do so.]"

Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said despite many of its problems in previous years, Denel was starting to break even, having secured orders of more than R5bn in 2011/12, to be delivered over the next five years, Fin24 says. Denel Aerostructures was due for a R700m capitalisation, as it prepared to provide a component to Airbus's A400M military aircraft programme. "We need to be proud of fact Denel Aerostructures has designed one of the most complex and critical parts of this aircraft," Gigaba said.

Read the full article on www.fin24.com.

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