South African defence and aerospace company Paramount Group has concluded a deal with Jordan’s State-owned defence company King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau (KADDB) for the manufacture of 50 6x6 Mbombe infantry combat vehicles in Jordan and South Africa.

KADDB CEO major-general Omar Al Kaldi and Paramount Group chairperson Ivor Ichikowitz signed the contract at the International Defence Exhibition, being held in the Middle East this week.

“The production of Mbombe in Jordan signals an important milestone in the continuing growth of the defence industrial capability in the Middle East. The Mbombe is a world-class product that is optimally suited for the requirements of defence forces in the region,” Al Kaldi said.

He added that the Mbombe would become the platform for the future 6x6 requirements of the Jordanian Armed Forces. “By integrating our technologies, engineering skills and know-how, we are looking forward to bringing innovation to the industry.”

“Paramount Group and the Jordanian defence industry have a long history of collaboration and we are very excited to support the development of a defence industrial base in Jordan that will contribute to employment, skills development and technology transfer and training. This is an important milestone for Jordan and South Africa’s defence collaboration,” Ichkowitz noted.

The signing of the contract followed extensive vehicle trials in 50° C desert conditions in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, as well as in -50° C winter conditions in Kazakhstan.

The Mbombe successfully completed the rigorous trials and covered more than 10 000 km in harsh and challenging enviornments. 

The six-wheeled Mbombe was designed to provide unrivalled protection against landmines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), side blasts and rocket-propelled grenade attacks.

Ballistic protection could be provided against 14.5 mm heavy machine gun rounds, while the vehicle offered similar levels of protection against 155 mm artillery burst. It also offered Level 4 mine protection against 10 kg mines detonating under the hull or wheels. Against IEDs, it was capable of withstanding a 50 kg trinitrotoluene blast.

Production of the 50 Mbombe’s would start immediately.

Meanwhile, Paramount also this week signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ukraine helicopter maintenance and repair organisation Motor Sich JSC to collaborate in the production and modernisation of helicopters and aviation engineering components.

The signing, which was witnessed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, committed the two companies to explore the opportunity of transferring technologies that exist in both companies, relating to rotary platforms.

INDUSTRIALISATION
Meanwhile, Paramount Group was also preparing for the industrialisation of its Advanced High Performance Reconnaissance Light Aircraft (Ahrlac) including the construction of a factory – currently in advanced stages of planning – and a new runway, as global interest in the aircraft continued to grow with a number of air forces in the Middle East and elsewhere evaluating the aircraft.

Since its first flight in July 2014, the prototype aircraft had completed 65 hours of incident-free test flying. The vigorous flight test programme was now moving into its next phase, which would see the company expanding the flight envelope in key areas of the aircraft’s performance including handling qualities, airframe systems, centre of gravity, performance ranges and rough field capabilities.

“Ahrlac’s journey from concept to development and first prototype has been incredible. We had a tremendous reaction to the first flight of the aircraft and this has resulted in a number of in-depth discussions with potential customers across the world, but we have seen particular interest from across the Middle East region.

“We have always understood the strong relevance of Ahrlac as an innovative, multirole and cost-effective solution to the environments and threats that air forces are facing in the region,” Ichikowitz noted.

Key components of the advanced demonstrator had been completed, including advanced mission equipment and the integration of the Martin Baker’s new MK 17 ejection seats.

“The aircraft’s performance has matched all our initial predictions very closely and its systems have performed as they should. Aharlac has shown itself to be predictable, intuitive and easy to fly; a true testament to the aerodynamic modeling done in the early stages of concept development.

“The use of proven components results in a highly cost effective platform, but also gives multiple options for latest technology insertion in mission systems, surveillance equipment and weapon delivery. We are moving full steam ahead with plans for the next phase of the journey, [which is] industrialisation,” Ichikowitz added. 

Paramount said the aircraft met a key industry need by performing the combined tasks that previously required four separately configured aircraft. It integrated designs from surveillance platforms and reconnaissance aircraft with the ability to carry surveillance, weapons, radar and electronic warfare systems. This resulted in advanced operational solutions, historically requiring more costly aircraft or complex unmanned aerial surveillance systems.

The aircraft was designed and built by a team of 60 engineers and technicians, with 98% of the 6 000 parts of the airframe locally designed and produced.

Since the launch of the project in September 2011, the team spent 315 000 labour hours on completing detailed designs and manufacturing the first prototype.