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ABSTRACT

South Africa had a strong centrally planned mission oriented approach to R&D investment during the pre-1994 era. Between 1990 and 1994, the Apartheid government terminated this strategy and as a result, the R&D spending decreased from 1.1% to 0.7% of GDP. Post 1994, Science and Technology was seen as an instrument to help address the socio-economic needs in South Africa and subsequent policies were aimed at growing S&T investment and capacity.

In the pre-1994 era, one of the national R&D mission topics centred on achieving independence in South Africa’s defence requirements. The manner in which this was achieved was by means of backwards integration of the national system of innovation. This process of local assembly, local product improvement, re-engineering and ultimate new local product development, together with focussed R&D programmes, enabled the SA aerospace and defence industry to develop and support its own equipment such as the Rooivalk, Ratel and guided weapons such as and the V3 air-to-air missile.

The role of aeronautics R&D has not been explicitly highlighted in past publications. This paper aims to focus on the contribution and the mechanism of aeronautics research in South Africa. Aeronautics research in South Africa, based at the CSIR, gave rise to a number of spin-off companies and products – for example the establishment of Denel Dynamics (guided weapons), the manufacture of the Rooivalk attack helicopter and the establishment of a number of UAV programmes.

A focussed research approach in aeronautics, especially DPSS, can make it possible to once again lead the industry and the South African aerospace industry in the development of appropriate research and technology which could help increase the global competitiveness of the industry, increase innovation and thereby create wealth and improve the quality of life of South African citizens.

INTRODUCTION

South Africa's domestic arms industry originated in 1940 with the appointment of an Advisory Committee on Defence Force Requirements to study and to assess the country's military-industrial potential. Relying on its recommendations, the government, with British assistance, established six factories to produce or to assemble ammunition, bombs, howitzers, mortars, armoured vehicles, and electronic equipment. A number of private companies also produced weapons during World War II. Most weapons factories were dismantled in the late 1940s.

Seeking long-term military research and development capabilities, the government in 1945 established the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to study the country's overall industrial potential. The Board of Defence Resources, established in 1949, and the Munitions Production Office, established in 1951, oversaw policy planning concerning armaments. In 1953 the first rifle factory was established, and the Lyttleton Engineering Works, formerly the Defence Ordnance Workshop, collected technical data and information on manufacturing methods. In 1954 the government established the National Institute for Defence Research (NIDR) to assess and to improve the fledgling defence industry.

In 1960 the increasingly security-conscious National Party (NP) government stepped up programs to improve the arsenal of the armed forces. Pretoria raised arms production levels, sought new foreign sources of weapons, and began to acquire new defence technology systems. These efforts intensified after the 1963 United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution restricting the sale of arms, ammunition, or military vehicles to South Africa. The Armaments Act (No. 87) of 1964 established an Armaments Production Board to manage the Lyttleton Engineering Works and a state-owned ammunition plant. The board assumed responsibility for coordinating arms purchases among government, military, and private agencies.

CSIR aeronautical research contribution to the RSA aerospace industry: A historical perspective

BA Gerryts, K Naidoo, D Barker

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The Armaments Development and Production Act (No. 57) of 1968 established a special production unit, the Armaments Development and Production Corporation (Armscor), to consolidate and to manage public and private arms manufacturing. Through Armscor's efforts, South Africa soon achieved self-sufficiency in the production of small arms, military vehicles, optical devices, and ammunition. During the mid-1970s, Armscor, reorganised as the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (still Armscor), expanded existing arms industries, and assumed control over most research and development done by NIDR. Before the voluntary UN arms embargo was declared mandatory in 1977, South Africa received military technology through licensing agreements, primarily with West Germany, Italy, Israel, France, Belgium, and Canada. Licensing and co-production agreements in the 1970s and 1980s made it difficult to distinguish between fully indigenous military manufacturers and those that relied on foreign manufacturing capabilities.

During the 1980s, Armscor was a central feature of South Africa's military-industrial complex, a state corporation that depended on private industry for specific processes and components. Armscor's financial autonomy was evident in its access to the capital market for loans, but at the same time, many of its functions were closely tied to the government. Armscor executives reported directly to the minister of defence. Armscor's ten-member corporate board had overlapping membership with the ministry's Defence Planning Committee and included leading businessmen, financiers, and scientists, as well as the government's director general of finance and the chief of the SADF. In addition, Armscor was represented on the government's high-level military planning and policy bodies.

Armscor's marketing and sales department, Nimrod, undertook an aggressive arms export promotion campaign in the 1980s. It participated in international arms exhibitions, in Greece in 1982, in Chile each year from 1984 through the end of the decade, and in Turkey in 1989 (displaying its G-5 howitzer and Rooikat armoured vehicle). Armscor also displayed its manufactures at numerous demonstrations and trade fairs in South Africa. Despite the UN ban on arms sales to Pretoria and a 1984 UN ban on the purchase of arms from South Africa, Armscor's business flourished. The corporation did not disclose export figures or customers during the 1980s, but the United States government estimated South Africa's arms sales at US$273 million (in constant 1989

dollars) over the five-year period from 1984 to 1988. The best year was 1985, when it earned roughly US$102 million.

Armscor did however, experience the effect of the cutback in weapons sales in the late 1980s. Its work force had increased from 10,000 to 33,000 between 1974 and 1984, but had declined to about 20,000 by 1989. At that time, Armscor purchased most of its manufacturing components from twelve subsidiary companies and an estimated 3,000 private contractors and subcontractors, representing a total work force of more than 80,000 employees. The government began to privatise parts of the arms industry in the early 1990s.

Under a major restructuring that began in April 1992, a segment of Armscor and several of its manufacturing subsidiaries were reorganised as an independent weapons manufacturing company, Denel. Denel and several other manufacturers produced equipment on contract with Armscor, which retained overall responsibility for military acquisitions. Armscor also acted as the agent of the state, regulating military imports and exports, issuing marketing certificates, and ensuring adherence to international agreements.

EMBARGO DEFIANCE

Despite the numerous international embargoes against arms trade with South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, it nonetheless developed the most advanced military-industrial base on the continent. In the late 1970s, it ranked behind Brazil and Israel, among developing-country arms suppliers. The reasons for this apparent irony are evident in South Africa's defence production infrastructure, which had developed even before the first UN embargo in 1963; in the incremental, haphazard, and inconsistent ways in which the arms embargoes were imposed and enforced; in the deliberate refusal by several countries to comply with the embargoes; in Pretoria's use of clever and covert circumvention techniques; and in its ability to develop and to exploit advanced commercial and "dual-use" technologies for military applications.

By the late 1960s, South Africa had acquired at least 127 foreign production licenses for arms, ammunition, and military vehicles. South Africa had purchased fighter aircraft, tanks, naval vessels, naval armaments, and maritime patrol aircraft, primarily from Britain. After that, military equipment was carefully maintained, upgraded, and often reverse-engineered or copied, after the embargo made it difficult to obtain replacements or replacement parts.

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During the 1970s, South Africa expanded and refined its ability to acquire foreign assistance for domestic military production. Its broad-based industrial growth enabled it to shift imports from finished products to technology and components that could be incorporated into locally designed or copied military systems. Through this manoeuvre, multi-national firms and banks became major sources of technology and capital for South Africa's defence industry, even during the embargo era. Dual-use equipment and technology such as electronics, computers, communications, machine tools, and industrial equipment, and manufacturing techniques, were not subject to embargo and were easy to exploit for military applications. South African engineers also were able to modify, to redesign, to retrofit, and to upgrade a wide range of weapons using foreign technology and systems.

South Africa also invested in strategic foreign industries; recruited foreign technicians to design, develop and to manufacture weapons; rented and leased technical services, including computers; and resorted to cover companies, deceptive practices, third-country shipments, and outright smuggling and piracy to meet its defence needs. By the 1980s, the defence industry, as extensive as it was, was nonetheless incapable of designing and producing some advanced military systems, such as high-performance combat aircraft, tanks, and aerospace electronics.

Even as Pretoria's diplomatic isolation increased in the 1980s, as many as fifty countries, including several in Africa, purchased Armscor's relatively simple, dependable, battle-tested arms for their own defence needs. The Johannesburg Weekly Mail, citing government documents, disclosed arms shipments in the mid-1980s to Iraq, Gabon, Malawi, Chile, France, Belgium, and Spain. Morocco and Zaire obtained Ratel armoured vehicles from Pretoria, and South Africa's mobile razor-wire barrier, used for area protection and crowd control, was exported to at least fifteen countries, including several in Africa, and to United States forces in West Germany.

Reports of the Iran-Iraq conflict of the 1980s and of the Persian Gulf War of early 1991 highlighted Pretoria's previous sales to several countries in the Middle East. Armscor had sold G-5 towed howitzers to both Iran and Iraq, and G-6 self-propelled howitzers to the United Arab Emirates. South Africa also provided vaccines to Israel for that country's use as a precaution against the possible Iraqi use of biological

weapons. Numerous other reports of South African arms sales to the Middle East, to Peru, to several leaders of breakaway Yugoslav republics, and to other countries indicated the international awareness of the strength of South Africa's arms industry. The London-based humanitarian organisation, Oxfam, criticised South Africa in 1992 for having sold automatic rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, and ammunition to war-torn Rwanda. Military sales to Rwanda continued in the mid-1990s, even after that country's genocidal outbreak of violence in 1994.

The new Government of National Unity in 1994 faced the dilemma of whether to dismantle the defence industry many of its leaders had reviled for two decades or to preserve a lucrative export industry that still employed tens of thousands of South Africans. After some debate, President Mandela and Minister of Defence Joe Modise decided to maintain a high level of defence manufacturing and to increase military exports in the late 1990s. The industry, they argued, would benefit civil society in areas such as mass transportation, medical care, mobile services, information management, and other areas of infrastructure development. Increasing defence exports, they maintained, would bolster foreign currency reserves and would help reduce unemployment. Moreover, they pledged that military exports to other countries would require cabinet approval and verification by Armscor; and, they promised, arms would not be sold to countries that threatened war with their neighbours. 1

CHARACTERISTICS OF AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES

The technological importance of a national aerospace industry goes far beyond the development of air vehicles and the accruing socio-economic benefits. The high technology benefits generate spillovers to other industries, create knowledge, increase competitiveness, stimulate innovation and spur the aerospace family on in becoming an integral component of the world’s aerospace community.

Tapping into the global supply chain in turn creates international confidence in the capabilities of the local aerospace industry which inevitably leads to foreign direct

1 South Africa Growth of the Defense Industry (Revised 10-Nov-04 Copyright © 2004 Photius Coutsoukis (all rights reserved)

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investment, a highly desirable economic component of a developing economy. The aerospace sector is characterised by the following:

High-technology content.

Strategic importance.

Globalised supply chains. Advanced manufacturing technologies.

Clustering of industries and suppliers.

Risk and revenue sharing.

High technology industries and areas have become strategically important, especially in neo-classical economics2, where countries and companies are expected to specialise. High technology areas generally have high entry barriers (high R&D costs, infrastructure, high risk, etc.) Because of the high entry barriers, the incumbent companies will receive substantial profits. Governments want to enter high technology markets due to:

The perceived high profit margins of companies in the high technology markets.

The spill over effects associated with a

high technology company, which forces other companies to improve their quality, response time, competitiveness, etc.

The net effect is a more capable and

sophisticated economy. Higher technology industries develop

knowledge intensive sectors, which are considered to be havens, which are immune to international competition (for example competition based on low wages).

Moving up the value-added ladder can therefore be considered a state goal. Knowledge intensive industries are thought to be less prone to competition as they are funded on the ideas and tacit knowledge of their highly skilled workers, which cannot be replaced by unskilled, low-wage workers. High technology companies prefer globalisation to help reduce/spread their financial risk and to increase their market access. To successfully enter and succeed in high technology industries, a national will and supporting strategies are essential.

2 which is based on comparative advantage

The National Science Board (Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century: An Agenda for American Science and Technology 2007:6-5) describes the benefits of high-technology industries to nations as:

High-technology is associated with innovation, and firms that innovate tend to gain market share, create new products/markets, and/or use resources more productively.

Industrial R&D performed by high-technology industries benefits other commercial sectors by generating new products and processes that increase productivity, expand business and create high-wage jobs.

High-technology firms develop high-valued-added products and are successful in foreign markets, which results in increased competition.

Hickie (2006:702) states that “In a high-technology business one could reasonably expect to face technological risks and difficulties, but aerospace has also been subject to radical fluctuations in demand; and major organisational restructurings, often externally imposed by governments. Demand for military aircraft can oscillate violently in the light of prevailing international relations. In 1944 Boeing employed 50,000 people, but in the immediate post-war years this fell to 9000 and its Denton plant, near Seattle was closed.”

From the literature on high-technology industries, it is clear that it presents a special case of high impact and return, but also of high government involvement as discussed in the next section. Developed countries use high-technology as a mechanism to increase competitiveness and to create entry barriers against competition from low wage countries/firms. Developing countries uses high-technology, amongst others, as a mechanism to stimulate growth in other sectors and as a mechanism to become part of the global value chain.

AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA

The establishment of an aerospace industry in the RSA was forced upon the country by the contingencies of the UN Arms Embargo that prevailed on the RSA during the period 1977 to 1994. The concomitant strategic requirement for self-sufficiency within aerospace activities obviously generated the necessity for a research and development capability which included, flight test.

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With only a limited capability at Atlas Flight Test, which catered primarily for Production Acceptance Testing, it was left to the SAAF to take the ownership for establishing the necessary flight test infrastructure to support the local defence industry that had sprung up to counter the adverse effects of the Arms Embargo. With the high costs, long lead times and the possible violation of security by outsourcing system’s modifications to the foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers and a rapid increase in demand for modifications and developmental flight testing, it was only logical that the SAAF moved to establishing its own flight test capability which consequently led to the establishment of TFDC. The enormous development testing and clearance workload was considered more than adequate justification for the country to develop a sophisticated flight test capability.

The establishment of a sophisticated aerospace research and development capability was certainly unique for such a small country with such a small air force, but there really was no other alternative. At that time and even today, only the major first world countries possess an independent aerospace research and development viz USA, UK, France, Russia, India, Canada, Australia, etc. Currently, smaller countries rely on the OEM for all modifications and flight testing to their air vehicles, but this is an expensive and slow process, dependent on the whims and availability of OEM capacity.

The aerospace sector is defined (adapted from Hatty (2000:1)) as that industry which covers the R&D, design, test and evaluation, manufacture, support, maintenance, conversion and upgrade of:

Rotary and fixed wing aircraft.

Satellites and satellite launch and tracking systems.

Air traffic control systems.

Unmanned aircraft. Weapons systems, including their relevant subsystems, components and processes.

The aerospace sector in general is considered ‘high-tech’ based on the degree of R&D investment by the sector. It is highly competitive and technology is a key differentiator and essential for competitiveness, according to Marshall in Lawrence (1999:179).

In 1996 the UK Aerospace industry had the second highest value added per employee in high-tech manufacturing, Marshall in Lawrence (1999:180).

Due to, amongst others, the high-technology, prestige and national security aspects which are all embedded in the aerospace industry, national governments are strongly involved in this sector. McGuire, in Lawrence (1999:230) go as far as stating that ’given the pervasive government involvement in the aerospace sector, the correct actor to study is the state, not firms.’ He therefore proposes that technological diffusion in aerospace is examined by focusing on political economy rather than corporate strategy. The recent announcement by the South African government that the aerospace sector is a priority, reaffirms the above statement.

Niosi, quoted in Peters (2006:20), states that the dominant element in most national state initiatives is the State as it finances most of the R&D. The South African aerospace sector presents an interesting case as it was established by government in the 1970s with the aim of becoming self sufficient. Government investment in this sector occurred mainly via the DOD spending

In 2004 the South African government stated that requirement for the aerospace industry to be as healthy and vibrant as the automotive industry by the year 2014 and that by this date, South Africa will have a sustainable, growing, empowered and internationally recognized industry. The aerospace sector is therefore viewed as a mechanism to:

Grow the economy – via job and wealth creation.

Help alleviate the national skills shortage, especially in the high-technology domain.

Increase national innovation and assist in the national system of innovation Integrate South African industries into the global aerospace supply chains.

The military aerospace sector in South Africa has undergone radical change since the early 1990s. The requirement for local weapon systems and capabilities disappeared with the end of the Border War. Besides the fact that the local market disappeared virtually overnight, South African companies had to compete with large multinationals on home soil, as demonstrated with the Strategic Defence Packages of 1999. This large capital acquisition programme, sought major

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equipment from overseas. This R30 billion package had strong requirements for local defence industry participation (DIP) and National Industry Participation (NIP). However, despite the strong counter trade requirements, there was no technology strategy from which any guidelines could be derived for the specific counter trade technologies, resulting in an uncoordinated transfer of technology. Despite this, a number of South African firms were able to capitalise on the counter trade opportunities and became part in the global manufacturing and product development network.

In a survey performed by AMD and Vuxaka in 2006 it was found that 97% of the South African Defence exports are generated by 90% of the defence related industries.3 They are members of and represented by the South African Aerospace, Maritime and Defence Industries Association (AMD). The AMD/Vuxaka report further states that South African Defence Related Industries (SADRI) had total revenue of R9.6b in 2005, of which R4.3b was exports. The total revenue was 0.56% of GDP and 3.42% of the manufacturing percentage.

The SADRI consists of approximately 77 companies (revenue between R3b) with 60 firms multinationals or SMMEs and 17 B-BBEEs. It states that the SADRI displays the highest export propensity and the highest level of innovation, of industries in South Africa.

FLAGSHIP SA AEROSPACE PROJECTS

Ovid. The RSA aerospace industry’s first South African design, the Ovid, which held the distinction of being the world's first all-composite trainer, being made from a carbon/glass honeycomb structure was fully aerobatic, with excellent flying qualities, visibility and ergonomics and a very low parts count. Impressively, Atlas was prepared to underwrite a 20 000hr fatigue life which at that stage of composite developments for aircraft structures, was remarkable.

The Ovid first flew on the 29 April 1991, as an experimental developmental model and flew 180 hours over 15 months before being modified and emerging as an advanced developmental model, allowed the developmental programme to continue until the end of 2003. Unfortunately, the Ovid was too late to scoop the SAAF initial trainer contract to

3 From the AMD/Vuxaka report, 2006.

replace the ageing North American Harvard, due to two factors. Firstly, it would have taken too long to bring it into production for the SAAF's requirements, and secondly, the changing political climate made it possible for the SAAF to purchase from Pilatus in Switzerland.

Having lost the potential to be selected as the SAAFs basic trainer replacement, Atlas and CSIR Aerotek determined that the lifting of the arms embargo could provide export orders and they renamed the aircraft the ACE, or All-Composite Evaluator, demonstrating and exhibiting the aircraft at international airshows, where although there was a degree of interest, no sales ever materialised. All further considerations on the future of the aircraft were terminated when the aircraft crashed during landing after suffering flight control failure.

Hummingbird Observation Aircraft. A lesser known aerospace programme conducted by CSIR was the development of the Hummingbird observation research vehicle which saw the entire aeronautic research capability pursuing the design and manufacture

Figure 1. The collaborative effort between CSIR aeronautics and materials research, in conjunction with Atlas Aviation, both parastatal organisations, produced South Africa’s first fixed wing composite trainer.

Figure 2. The Hummingbird prototype, designed to provide low altitude, low airspeed, observation capabilities was the culmination of CSIR aerospace research capabilities..

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of the air vehicle. This included complete aerodynamic and structural design, prototype manufacture, detailed systems design, systems integration, ground vibration testing, flutter clearance flight testing and performance flight testing. This vehicle never entered production.

Rooivalk. The Aeronautic Systems Competency at the CSIR has been a key technology solution provider to the South African Air Force (SAAF) for the past five decades and was a major contributor to the development of South Africa’s first indigenous combat attack helicopter, the Rooivalk AH-2A.

The Rooivalk is a latest-generation attack helicopter from Denel Aviation of South Africa of which twelve were ordered by the SAAF, the first of which entered service in July 1999. The helicopters form part of No. 16 Squadron at Bloemspruit Air Force Base (near Bloemfontein).

Stratospheric Airship. CSIRs Aeronautic Systems Compentency undertook research in a collaborative project called “AwareNet”, which essentially addressed research into the feasibility of a solar powered stratospheric

airship. The research effort was constituted by high altitude airborne platform systems analysis, study of high altitude atmospheric conditions over Southern Africa, feasibility study for high altitude airborne platform and Modelling and Simulation of the Airship mission.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Within the aerospace research world, unmanned aerial vehicles provide aeronautics researchers with the ideal platform to integrate various research technologies prior to entering developmental programmes. In this field, CSIR has become South Africa’s most experienced UAV house having developed several UAVs of various sizes capable of carrying sophisticated payloads. Collaboration with local aerospace industry partners included ATE, Denel Dynamics and Denel Aviation and the spectrum of aerospace research spanned a wide range of air vehicles from mini-UAVs to technology demonstrators. The historical aeronautical research involvement by the CSIR in the UAV field is tabulated below.

Table 1: CSIR Historical UAV Involvement

Slide 4 © CSIR 2008 www.csir.co.za

Historical UAV Involvement

CSIR Contribution 1 2 3 4 5Concept Design • • • • •Performance prediction • • • • •Stability and Control • • • • •Structural design • • • • •Prototype/mould manufacture

• • • • •

Propeller design/selection • • • • •Engine integration • • • •Wind tunnel model manufacture

• • •

Systems integration • • •Characterisation – full scale

• • •

Flight testing • • • •

1 2

1

3

5

4

Table 2: Chronological sequence of air vehicles actually flown and demonstrated, either in-house or in collaboration with the RSA Defence Industry.

Date Airframe Client

Early 1980’s

Seeker prototype

Kentron (Denel Dynamics)

Figure 3. Considerable CSIR resources were dedicated to advancing helicopter technology through computational fluid dynamics, modelling and simulation, aeroelasticity, advanced structures and wind tunnel facilities in development of the Rooivalk.

Figure 4. Solar powered stratospheric airship research remains a future aerospace dream to support scientists in atmospheric research, geographic survey and weather predictions.

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1988 Delta wing UAV demonstrator

Kentron (Denel Dynamics)

1992 Skyfly Target Drone Prototype

CSIR In-house

1989 OVID technology demonstrator

Atlas Aircraft Corporation (Denel Aviation)

1992 Hummingbird observation aircraft prototype

CSIR In-house

1993 Keen-eye RPV

CSIR In-house

1994 Vulture prototype

ATE

2005/6/7

Indiza – Mini-UAV

CSIR In-house

2007 Sekwa – unstable, tailless mini-UAV

CSIR In-house

CROSSING THE AEROSPACE INNOVATION CHASM

According to De Wet (30:1) the mature industries in South Africa are mainly located in the defence industry, the mining sector and the petro-chemical industries. In recent years, South Africa has also started to focus on specific activities, eg manufacturing, with positive results.

The role of government in innovation is crucial, as they often fund the process of technology development in the early high-risk phase where normal companies are not prepared to take such risks. Government involvement and strategising are crucial to help bridging the “innovation chasm”, which is depicted in Figure .

Figure 5. Diagrammatic representation of the innovation chasm.

The development of a successful aerospace industry in the RSA was only possible by the contribution received from local research agencies such as the CSIR, in particular, the Aeronautic Systems Competency. In fact, all RSA Defence Industry aerospace developments, in one way or the other, involved research in computational, applied or experimental aerodynamics. The contribution of Aeronautic Systems Competency to innovation and competitiveness is evidenced by the achievements of the RSA within the aerospace environment.

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THE FUTURE?

With the ever increasing threat to the future of global aerospace posed by rapidly rising costs of manufacturing and fuel, it has become clear that the future growth of aerospace will be determined by technological advances that can reduce the costs of manufacturing and yet provide improved aircraft performance. There is no doubt that such gains can only be obtained through innovative technology improvements in the fields of propulsion, energy and aerodynamics.

There is however, no national vision for aerospace research in the RSA. The research agencies, including CSIR and the Universities are all involved in aerospace research in one way or the other, without a coherent vision or strategy which will guide research efforts in a coherent, focussed technology development. Typical questions that will need to be asked are, where does the RSA see itself as an international role player in aerospace? To what extent will the Department of Science and Technology and even Department of Trade and Industry, be a role player? Does South Africa have the political will to remain in the sophisticated technologically competitive research field of aerospace? Lastly, if the political will exists, can this vision be financially supported by government departments and international aircraft manufacturers?

The fact is that the RSA government in the White Paper on Defence, as well as the White Paper on the Defence Industry, has called for active participation by industry in ensuring that the RSA maintains its role as a world player in aerospace. To this end, CSIR Aeronautic Systems Competency is actively involved in the following aerospace programmes:

A-Darter. A-Darter is a fifth-generation, air-to-air missile system designed by Denel Dynamics to meet the challenges of future air combat against next-generation fighters in a hostile ECM environment. The CSIR has been involved in the initial research efforts in experimental and computational aerodynamics

research. A-Darter will be fitted to the SAAFs latest light fighter, the SAAB Gripen. In addition, the Brazilean Air Force are partners in the co-development of the A-Darter for their future new generation fighter.

Umkhonto. The Umkhonto-IR missile is a vertically-launched, high-velocity, infrared homing missile specifically designed for providing all-round defence against simultaneous air attacks from multiple combat aircraft and missiles. The missile and associated subsystems are supplied as a missile group for easy integration into naval combat suites or ground-based air defence systems.

Designed for all-round defence against simultaneous air attacks from multiple targets, the Umkhonto-IR missile is also the first IR-homing missile to use lock-on-after-launch. Upon launch, the missile flies to a lock-on point, following on-board inertial navigation. The missile then activates its two-colour IR-seeker and locks on. Target updates are received via data link, enabling the missile to counter evasive manoeuvres by the target.

An extended range version (Umkhonto-NG) is in development and it will feature a rocket booster and a RF seeker head and it is here where the CSIR will continue in collaboration with Denel Dynamics to develop the capability of the weapon.

Countries in which Umkhonto is being used are Finland where Umkhonto-IR was ordered by the Finnish Navy to arm its four Hamina Class missile boats and its two Hameenmaa Class Minelayers. The South African Navy has selected the system for its four Meko A-200 frigates. The South African Army has the Umkhonto in land based service, where one missile battery is composed of four launch units, one 3-D radar unit and one command unit. Brazil has also expressed an interest in acquiring the missile system for its aircraft carrier Sao Paolo.

Figure 7. Umkhonto SAM was developed by Denel Dynamics with significant computational and experimental aerodynamics research.

Figure 6. A-Darter represents the state of the art air-to-air missile technology.

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Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. With the worldwide recognition of the role of unmanned aerial vehicles, both in military and civilian context, the RSA has had to expedite research technologies to ensure that the country remains abreast of such developments. Current work is focussed on the development of a UAV testbed by utilising funding from DST and developing human capital development by in-sourcing intellectual capability from South African universities

Future technologies being researched will include continuing with the research work started on Sekwa but possibly on a larger BWB airframe while continuing to develop a number of related technologies. This includes further development and validate prediction tools and to utilise the Modelling and Simulation environment to provide a virtual design capability for cost and risk reduction.

Modelling and Simulation. The field of modelling and simulation has developed to such an extent that practically all situations can be mathematically modelled and events simulated prior to advancing any process to manufacturing or production. The CSIR DPSS is strongly involved in the development of tactics and doctrine for the Gripen advanced light fighter scheduled to enter service with the South African Air Force in October 2008. Having exercised the multitude permutations of scenarios, vast savings in flying hours will be accrued.

CONCLUSION

Politically, the government of the RSA has concluded that continued participation at an

international level in the fields of aerospace research is beneficial for the socio-economic recovery and future development of the county. However, the development of a national aerospace research strategy must be addressed as a matter of urgency if the CSIR is to enable the DST to grow the economy by support to the aerospace research agencies. To this end, the CSIR Aeronautics Systems Competency needs to continue to be enabled to contribute to national aerospace and defence industry.

References

1. 1999. Strategic Issues in European Aerospace Aldershot: Ashgate.

2. COMMITTEE ON PROSPERING IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY OF THE 21ST CENTURY: AN AGENDA FOR AMERICAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 2007. Rising above the gathering storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future. National Academy of Sciences,

3. HATTY, P., 2000. A Strategy for an Aerospace Industry in South Africa. Ae021.

4. HICKIE, D., 2006. Knowledge and competitiveness in the aerospace industry: The cases of Toulouse, Seattle and North-West England, European Planning Studies, 14(5), pp. 697-716.

5. PETERS, S., 2006. National Systems of Innovation: Creating High-Technology Industries New York: Palgrave MacMillan.

Figure 9. A strong feature of CSIRs aerospace research effort is focussed on modelling and simulation to reduce developmental risks and reduce costs.

Figure 8. Concept design of new unmanned aerial vehicle proposed as developmental modular testbed.