Arms parastatal Denel and the private sector are gearing up to supply unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) to developing nations.

In a statement on Friday, Denel said South Africa had the credentials to be a player in the fast-growing UAV sector.

Denel is South Africa's biggest supplier of UAV systems while the other is Advanced Technologies & Engineering.

The companies have decided not to compete against each other, instead creating a UAV Forum, now called the Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Forum.

"It combines the research and development advances of the CSIR and universities - funded by the Department of Science and Technology and supported by the Department of Trade and Industry, to leverage industry and government support for the good of the country," Denel said.

While the United States and Israel dominated the global market, Denel said that there was scope for SA to use local skills to create market-leading UAVs for developing nations.

This market was estimated at R2-billion per annum and the South African UAV industry aimed to capture in excess of 20 percent at an estimated value of R400-million a year, Denel said.

The global increase in operational use of UAVs was a direct result of lessons learnt by allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The surveillance benefits in the defence world of being able to survey borders and enter war zones without a pilot are extensive," Denel said.

"Even regular use of UAVs in civilian airspace has captured the world's imagination," the parastatal added.

The availability of capable and affordable South African UAVs of various sizes would trigger the enhancement of not only national security, but crime fighting, disaster management, election monitoring, and search and rescue, according to Denel.

"UAVs even provide benefits to the agricultural, mining, health, and environmental sectors," it said.

Within the next five years, UAVs would be used by a diversity of industries, from policing poachers on coastlines, carrying test specimens from remote clinics to laboratories for analysis, to keeping an eye on livestock on farms, and would prove to be a lucrative parallel market for international UAV players, Denel said