Parliament - State weapons company Denel has not managed to secure any foreign orders for its Rooivalk helicopter, the parastatal's chairperson Zoli Kunene said on Tuesday.
He said at a public enterprises department media briefing that Denel had delivered 11 Rooivalk at a cost of R6bn to the SA Air Force. Six more Rooivalk would be delivered to the SAAF later this year.
"We don't have new any orders presently in (the) pipeline," he said.
"We have committed to the SAAF to continue maintaining the aircraft for the duration of their lifetime."
Maintaining the attack helicopters would cost between R80m and R90m a year, he said.
"Denel Aviation will maintain these aircraft and has (the) capacity to maintain them.
"What happens, going forward... it is a situation we, with the air force, are reviewing."
Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said despite many of its problems in previous years, Denel was starting to break even.
He said the company had secured orders in 2011/12 of more than R5bn to be delivered over the next five years.
Denel Aerostructures was due for a R700m capitalisation, to allow it to prepare itself for the serial manufacturing phase of a programme to provide a component to Airbus's A400M military aircraft programme.
"We need to be proud of fact Denel Aerostructures has designed one of the most complex and critical parts of this aircraft," Gigaba said.