The Denel group, South Africa’s State-owned defence and aerospace business, is upbeat on the future of its Small African Regional Aircraft (Sara) project.

“We have progressed well on the Sara concept, and have developed a full-scale mock-up as part of the R&D (research and development) process,” reported acting group CEO Zwelakhe Ntshepe at Denel’s recent 2015/16 annual results media briefing. “This is a national flagship project Denel is honoured to be involved in.”

Originally called the South African Regional Aircraft, the Sara concept was publicly launched at the African Aerospace and Defence exposition in 2014, although work on the idea started within the group in 2012. It would be a 24-seat, pressurised, high wing twin-turboprop aircraft, able to carry passengers, freight or a mixture of both and able to operate from quite rough airstrips.

“We have sponsorships being offered for the development of the aircraft from other SOEs (State-owned enterprises),” he said in reply to a question from Engineering News. “But we have also presented this aircraft to the Economic Cluster [of Cabinet Ministers].” This had created great interest in the project. “We hope, in the next two to three years, to have a real aircraft and not [just] a mock-up.” He pointed out that the Sara was an efficient (including fuel efficient) design.

Another potential aerospace project for the group would be the development of a new version of the Rooivalk (‘Kestrel’ in English) attack helicopter, generally referred to as the Rooivalk Mark (Mk) 2. In response to a question from another journalist, Ntshepe revealed that the minimum order required to make such a project feasible would be 75 helicopters. He added that Denel was talking to countries in Latin America and Asia to see if this could be achieved.

However, there is another project which must not be confused with the Rooivalk Mk 2 proposal – an upgrade of the current Rooivlak Mk 1 helicopter, in service with the South African Air Force. “We have been approved to do an upgrade on the [current] Rooivalk, which we call [the] Rooivalk 1.1 [upgrade].”

He also confirmed that Denel’s two major divisions active in the aerospace sector, Denel Aviation and Denel Aerostructures, are being merged. Both are located on the group’s Kempton Park site at OR Tambo International Airport. “The Aerostructures, Aviation merger is in progress. The process will be completed in the next month or two. However, we don’t expect any jobs will be lost,” he affirmed. The name of the merged division will be released in due course.

Coming down to earth, Ntshepe also reported that the G6 wheeled 155 mm armoured self-propelled gun system was being upgraded. “In the Middle East, one customer has a 45 calibre barrel (that is, the length of the barrel is 45 times the calibre of the gun), but we’ve improved the barrel and improved [the system’s] mobility. Another country wants a 52 calibre barrel, we’re looking at a 52 calibre barrel for a Middle Eastern customer.” He noted that the 52 calibre barrel was attracting a lot of interest in that region. Denel had proposed two options to meet that interest and hoped to secure a deal in the near future.

In addition, Denel has the T5 project: a 155 mm gun/howitzer, as in the G6, but mounted on a truck chassis. “It’s currently doing tests in one of the [interested] countries,” he reported. “It’s doing very well.” The T5 is a Denel flagship project and the company hopes to penetrate the Asia-Pacific region markets with it.

The South African Army has a requirement for a light artillery piece. Some years ago, Denel developed a prototype 105 mm gun/howitzer, designated the Light Experimental Ordnance (Leo), regarded as a world leader. “We still have the gun,” he assured. “We’re, at this point in time, looking for a partner to co-develop the gun.” Should the Army order the weapon, Denel would do an analysis to see if it was practical for the group to develop it alone. This would depend on the numbers ordered, and the South African Army requirement was currently only for a limited number of guns.