Early this month, South African defence group Paramount announced that it had bought the manufacturing facilities and certain other assets of DCD Protected Mobility (part of South Africa’s DCD industrial and engineering group) and taken transfer of selected personnel. Paramount describes itself as Africa’s largest privately owned defence and aerospace group.

Paramount took control of the facilities and almost 100 staff, which are located in Isando, in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg, on April 1. “The capabilities that existed in DCD Protected Mobility’s manufacturing facilities will be integrated with Paramount Combat Systems, enabling us to bolster the strength and diversity of our production, leading to increased business opportunities, innovation, new product development and research and development (R&D),” stated Paramount Combat Systems CEO Ben Jansen.

“It has always been Paramount Group’s vision to develop equipment that can be produced in customer countries, while maintaining high- value jobs in design, R&D and production in South Africa,” explained Paramount Industrial Holdings CEO John Craig. “In anticipation of significant growth in our order book, we have been investigating the prospects of greatly increasing our production capability in South Africa.

“We have been exploring opportunities to complement the capabilities and resources of our Combat Systems Business Unit, which has been experiencing rapid growth due to major contracts signed in recent months,” noted Jansen. “Paramount Group constantly strives to attract and develop the best talent and technologies in the industry, ensuring that we have the optimum skills and technological base in our organisation to meet the future demands of customers, including the capability to deliver large-scale vehicle programmes across the world,” stated Paramount Group executive chairperson Ivor Ichikowitz.

Hence the decision, after the consideration of a number of options, to acquire the DCD Protected Mobility facility. Paramount intends to develop the facility so that it will have the capacity to produce more than 400 units a year. “This will have a significant impact on the supplier base and for the South African economy at large,” affirmed Ichikowitz.

The newly acquired plant will initially be used to manufacture Paramount Mbombe 6 infantry fighting vehicles for Jordan. The Jordanians have ordered 50 of these vehicles, which will be produced in both South Africa and the Middle Eastern country.

“It has always been my personal ambition to make decisions around Paramount Group’s growth which will support the development of the South African aerospace and defence industry at large,” stated Ichikowitz. “At Paramount Group, we have always believed that the technologies which we develop and the products which we manufacture are competences that belong to the African continent. We are firmly committed to continuing the development, design, research and manufacturing capability on the African continent.”

Paramount Group operates in four broad areas: aerospace, electronic systems, land systems and maritime systems. Its target market sectors are defence, internal security, peacekeeping and prisons (‘correctional services’). The Paramount Land Systems division currently offers a range of mine-protected and armoured vehicles. These are the Mbombe series, the Marauder series, the Matador and the Maverick.

The Mbombe 4 is a 4 × 4 mine-protected and armoured multirole vehicle, while the Mbombe 6 is a 6 × 6 infantry fighting vehicle. The Marauder is a 4 × 4 mine-protected armoured vehicle, while the much smaller Marauder Patrol is a mine-protected utility vehicle. The Matador is a 4 × 4 “highly protected” (in the company’s words) armoured patrol vehicle. The Maverick is a 4 × 4 internal security vehicle, intended for use by police forces and other law enforcement agencies. Most of these vehicles can be configured for different roles. Thus, the Mbombe 6 can be sup-plied in armoured personnel carrier, infantry fire support, command vehicle, 120 mm mortar car-rier and anti-armour fire support versions.