The South African Aerospace Maritime and Defence Export Council (Saamdec) announced on Thursday that it had made a breakthrough in developing collaboration with the Indian defence industry. The breakthrough took the form of identifying the main areas in which Saamdec member companies will be able to collaborate with their Indian counterparts, for mutual benefit.

These areas are: ammunition (small and medium calibre), artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, electronic warfare, landward weapons (especially artillery), robotics and unmanned aerial vehicles. This information was released by Saamdec CEO Sandile Ndlovu while on a Department of Trade and Industry Outward Selling Mission to India.

“From the South African defence industry side we are going to identify local companies that we will pair with Indian companies under the areas that we have identified,” said Ndlovu. “These companies will then identify specific areas within these broad topics, work on them and report back to us as the export council.”

The visit had focused on New Delhi and Mumbai. While in New Delhi the trade mission had met with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

“As far as opportunities are concerned, the Indian defence industry is diametrically opposed or opposite to our industry,” he reported. “They are working at building their industry. In order to create opportunities for our industry back home we need to make use of the opportunities that are provided by India.”

“[W]e managed to agree with our Indian counterparts that regarding procurement, they will share current opportunities with ourselves, so that our members can participate where there is a requirement,” he assured. “In some instances, they have already informed us of what the Indian army needs. It is up to our exporters to grab those opportunities.”