Africa Aerospace & Defence 2024 - Trade Exhibition
By Jaco Kotze
18.09.2024
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The 2024 edition of the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) Expo started on the 18th of September 2024 at the Air Force Base Waterkloof (FAWK). AAD is the only international defence exhibition and conference in the African region demonstrating the latest technology across land, sea and air sectors of defence. South African Minister of Defence, Angie Motshekga officially opened the event on Wednesday and gave her opening address to AAD special guests and dignitaries, emphasizing the event's importance as a platform for international collaboration, innovation and trade.
With more than 200 registered exhibitors - this year's expo had much of interest on display for potential clients, with many of the exhibitions showcasing full scale equipment. The theme for this year's expo was “Exploring new paths, sharing solutions, showcasing innovation and capabilities”, with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) having had a very strong presence throughout the exhibition.
MILKOR 380 UAV - Largest UAV in this class designed and built in Africa
Armscor who was the lead partner for this year's event, showcased their impressive range of key defence solutions to the industry. With a history going back more than 60 years, the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor) provides specialist services to the country's armed forces and the defence industry. Itis governed and controlled by a board of directors, which reports to the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans.
Paramount, who has manufactured and supplied armoured vehicles, aircraft, naval vessels, sensors and other technologies to more than 30 countries across the globe, is celebrating their 30th anniversary as a global defence manufacturer. They had an impressive stand outside on the static apron, showcasing their vast range of equipment and defence solutions.
Paramount Mwari precision strike aircraft
Turkey and China both had very large participation to this year's exhibition by the likes of Aselsan (Turkey), CATIC (China), Norinco (China), Otokar (Turkey) and Roketsan (Turkey) to name a few.
Although this year the list of participating international aircraft was very weak (not including the withdrawal of the U.S. from this year's event), it did allow for some very interesting aircraft, some of which have never been seen in South Africa previously. Of particular note was the very impressive Xi'an Y-20 'Kunpeng' strategic military transport aircraft of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), which gave both static and flying displays. Inside its cargo hold it brought with the Changhe Z-10ME attack helicopter - brought to the exhibition by AVIC and CATIC. Unfortunately, the Z-10 was only on static display - we hope to see a flying display of this impressive helicopter at future editions of AAD.
Xian Y-20 strategic military transport aircraft of PLAAF
Changhe Z-10ME attack helicopter
Another impressive aircraft which was on static display was the Embraer C-390 Millenium airlifter. The C-390 has a payload capacity of 26 tons and a speed of 470 knots. It is designed to perform a wide range of military and civilian missions such as transport of freight, personnel and vehicles for peace keeping operations, special operations, humanitarian support, medical evacuation, search and rescue, maritime surveillance, fire-fighting, air-to-air refueling, and disaster management.
Embraer C-390 Millenium airlifter
Overall, the static park had a good range of aircraft on display.
Sysdel and CSIR unveiled the improved Acepod MK2 Electronic Warfare pod tested on the SAAF Hawk Mk120
With select flying displays and capability demonstrations by the SAAF, SAPS and other exhibitors as well as validations for the airshow program happening throughout the week, there was plenty of action on the aviation front to keep the trade visitors interested throughout the trade days.
The AAD Youth Development Programme (YDP) forms an integral component of the Africa Aerospace and Defence Show (AAD) show. The aim of YDP is to: Create awareness about careers in the defence and aviation sectors, provide a platform for the youth to interact with the defence and aviation sectors, assist learners to identify bursary opportunities in the defence and aviation sectors, support the promotion of Mathematics, Science and Technology subjects at schools, assist graduates in the fields of Engineering and Science to interact with the defence and aviation sectors to identify vacation work and internships.
Unfortunately, a severe and particularly uncommon for September cold front moved in from the south which caused very unpleasant outside conditions on Friday and Saturday. Luckily there were a large number of inside exhibitions and presentations to keep the visitors occupied.
The 2024 AAD Trade Exhibition came to an end on Friday 20 September which was followed by the much-anticipated public airshow days on the Saturday and Sunday. Article on the airshow will be reported in a separate article - be sure not to miss it!
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