As the third day of the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) Expo gets underway in Tshwane, attention is turning to land mobility, tactical armour and technologies aimed at supporting South Africa’s ground forces operating under increasing operational pressure.
The exhibition provides the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) with an opportunity to assess emerging technologies and capabilities that could help strengthen and equip its forces, while government is also emphasising the need to broaden participation in the country’s aerospace and defence industry.
Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau said transformation must be central to the development of the sector, particularly as government works to support small and medium enterprises seeking to enter an industry traditionally dominated by established players.
Tau was speaking at the 20-year commemoration of the Aerospace Industry Support Initiative (AISI), held at Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria as part of AAD 2026.
The AISI was established by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) to strengthen the competitiveness, sustainability and growth of South Africa’s aerospace and defence industry.
The initiative focuses on building industrial capability, research, design and innovation and is supported and managed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
The DTIC has funded AISI-supported companies to showcase their products, technologies and capabilities at this year’s AAD exhibition.
Tau said the initiative had made significant progress in supporting smaller businesses over the past decade.
During that period, AISI supported 142 small and medium enterprises, helped create and sustain more than 1,236 jobs, enabled the development of 148 new technologies and products and assisted companies in securing 49 international certifications and standards.
Tau said these achievements needed to be accompanied by greater transformation across the sector.
“Transformation matters here more than in most sectors, precisely because aerospace and defence have always been among the hardest industries to enter,” Tau said.
He pointed to the high cost of entering the industry, strict certification requirements and historically concentrated ownership as some of the barriers facing black entrepreneurs and emerging enterprises.
“Capital intensity, certification requirements and decades of concentrated ownership have kept these industries largely closed to black entrepreneurs and emerging enterprises. If we do not deliberately open that door, the next twenty years will simply repeat the exclusions of the last,” he said.
The minister said transformation should therefore not be treated as a separate objective, but as part of building a sustainable and competitive defence and aerospace industry.
He said preserving South Africa’s sovereign industrial capability, advancing dual-use technologies and retaining and upgrading critical technical skills were important to both national security and the country’s long-term economic competitiveness.
AISI-supported companies are being given exposure to potential markets through their participation at AAD, where defence and aerospace technologies from South Africa and other countries are being showcased.
The exhibition also provides an opportunity for local companies to demonstrate their ability to develop specialised technologies for the defence sector and potentially compete in international markets.
Tau said the AISI was also deliberately building a pipeline of black industrialists, innovators and technology companies capable of competing locally and internationally.
Companies receiving AISI funding are currently required to have at least Level 4 B-BBEE status.
The minister’s remarks come as the defence exhibition shifts focus towards the capabilities required by troops operating on the ground.
Land mobility and tactical armour are among the technologies being showcased, highlighting the role of vehicles, protection systems and other equipment in supporting soldiers in operational environments.
Among the companies showcasing their products at the expo is Cybilim Atlas Defence.
Tau was shown some of the company’s innovative products by Kovilan Moodley during his visit to the exhibition.
AAD 2026 continues at Waterkloof Air Force Base, bringing together defence, aerospace and security companies, government representatives and industry stakeholders.
For the SANDF, the exhibition provides a platform to examine developments in defence technology while the government seeks to balance operational requirements with its broader objective of developing a more inclusive domestic industrial base.
