Denel looks to expand African footprint through demining, MRO

South Africa's Denel Group is looking to increase exports to other African markets, with an emphasis on demining opportunities, group chief executive Riaz Saloojee said on 11 September.

The statement from Denel comes ahead of the African Aerospace and Defence exhibition to be held at Waterkloof Air Force Base, South Africa, from 19-23 September.

The defence manufacturer is examining how to best leverage its presence through its many offices around the continent to improve its revenues from exports to African markets, which currently comprise 27 per cent of its ZAR1.33 billion (USD162 million) total export sales.

Saloojee said the bulk of opportunities will lie in humanitarian demining services undertaken by its subsidiary Denel Mechem.

Denel Mechem supports a variety of UN and African Union demining programmes in 11 countries throughout the continent. The company has adapted a BAE Systems' CASSPIR for demining tasks, which can use steel wheels, a magnetically activated detonation mine disposal system or a vehicle mounted mine-detector.

Additionally, Denel Mechem offers mine-clearance training as well as supplying and training dogs for explosives detection.