South Africa’s state-owned defence and aerospace group Denel has been awarded contracts amounting to $2-million (about R13-million) to supply aircraft tooling for the production of the Indian Air Force’s new BAE Systems Hawk advanced jet-trainer aircraft.
This follows the placement of two contracts worth a combined $2-million on Denel Aviation as part of BAE Systems’ ongoing fulfilment of its defence industrial participation (DIP) obligations tied to South Africa’s procurement of new Hawk and Gripen aircraft.
The South African-manufactured tooling will be exported to India where it will be used in the assembly of Hawk aircraft for that country’s air force.
India, which boasts one of the biggest air forces in the world, last year ordered 66 Hawk aircraft for its lead-in fighter-trainer requirements.
As part of their increasingly close collaboration, BAE Systems and Denel Aviation have established an integrated project team (IPT), which identifies and pursues new work, specifically targeted to take advantage of Denel’s capacity and to develop further its capabilities.
The group said this new approach is based on an open exchange of information between key specialists in both companies, instead of a traditional request-for-quotation method.
These Hawk tooling contracts are the first fruits of the IPT’s work.
The BAE Systems executive vice-president for South Africa, Jonathan Walton, said: “These export orders are further examples of how BAE Systems and its partner, Saab, are fulfilling all of their industrial participation obligations in South Africa.
“But more than this, they further underline our commitment to developing deep partnerships with South African industry. In line with this, we are planning to place further orders for tooling on Denel Aviation.”
Denel chief executive Victor Moche said: “These contracts have enabled Denel to create further opportunities for local subcontractors. In particular, we have sub-contracted Ubambo Engineering, TMS, Quad and Anisec — a combination of BEE [black economic empowerment] and small, medium-sized engineering and tooling companies — in the fulfilment of these important export contracts.”
The initial contracts will be fulfilled by next March, after which the South African-manufactured equipment will be installed at Hindustan Aeronautics in Bangalore, enabling Hawk production to start.
Denel Aviation has become heavily engaged as a key supplier to BAE Systems on its Hawk advanced jet-trainer programme. The Kempton Park-based company produces tail-planes, flaps and airbrakes for the aircraft and recently inaugurated a South African Hawk final assembly line for the South African Air Force’s new fleet of Hawk aircraft. — I-Net Bridge