The defence industry, especially in South Africa, faces troubling times, which have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic; but there is hope and measures that can be taken to improve the industry, says Armscor business assurance executive Advocate Boitshoko Senne.

He spoke during the virtual Aerospace, Maritime and Defence Industries Association (AMD) conference on September 29.

Senne alluded that, because the AMD conference still took place, it was a sign that the domestic defence sector still bore signs of hope and the possibility of resurgence.

He said the defence industry, especially within Africa, was facing technology development challenges driven mainly by reduced spending by the Department of Defence, with money instead being redirected towards maintaining existing equipment as a cost saving measure.

“From an Armscor perspective, we are acutely aware of the unfolding global environment that the defence industries are facing and that budgets are moving towards saving lives and not towards defence technologies.”

The South African defence industry was no exception, said Senne, adding that the industry had been told to “look outside of itself for exports” in reference to the trend of South African defence technology being employed to a lesser degree elsewhere in Africa and, to a greater degree, by overseas defence forces.

However, this presented a conundrum in that the South African defence industry had to maintain and retain jobs in parallel to ensuring technology development and production, as well as retaining know-how in the country, while South Africa did not absorb enough of that technology, he stated.

Senne urged the industry to employ various measures, including collaboration, standardisation and interoperability, to ensure its future.

As such, he cautioned against the defence industry “looking inwards” and trying to solve problems on its own, but urged industry players to instead “reach out” and form partnerships and collaborations.

“Things may not change in the near future, but things always change [nonetheless],” stated Senne, adding that the good and bad times in the defence industry were like those experienced in the mining industry – “there is always a cycle, there is a good part and a bad part, and there are seasons.”

To overcome these challenges, he said, the defence industry needed to develop resilience and forethought. “To this extent, Armscor still believes that it is its duty to support defence-related industries. But, how do we do that?”

For the time being, without significant budgets, he said the domestic industry could still look towards the positives such as Project Biro (the development of inshore patrol vessels) and a few other projects that were under way.

“We still have a positive outlook about how we will support these.”

However, what is most concerning to Armscor is how it will continue to float its supporting businesses, which are no longer being awarded projects.

As such, he noted that Armscor was “doing its part to engage with stakeholders to talk to see what we can do. We continue to receive enquiries and engagements.”

As part of the changing defence environment, Senne noted that Armscor’s work “has more or less shifted to the maintenance world”, as the business must maintain the systems that assist the South African National Defence Force.

“We continue to make the approvals that are necessary to get the business going as we keep the flag flying.”

Over time, he said, Armscor believes that through resilience, the defence industry and all role-players will regain their strength.