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Pretoria – Airbus Helicopters, the world's largest rotorcraft manufacturer, and Denel Aviation, a business division of SA's state-owned aerospace and defence group, Denel, announced on Thursday that they will cooperate on a programme to enhance and modernise SA's Rooivalk Attack Helicopter programme.
The two organisations signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the biennial African Aerospace & Defence show, in which they have agreed to cooperate on a phased programme of enhancements for the Rooivalk helicopter.
The programme first aims to improve the supportability of the current fleet of the combat-proven Rooivalk Mk1 helicopters, focusing on reliability and updating obsolete items. Work done during this phase of the upgrade will be utilised for future developments of the Rooivalk. The current Rooivalk fleet already utilises Airbus Helicopters technologies for the helicopter dynamic components.
"As part of the Rooivalk roadmap we developed, we will launch a market assessment and feasibility study into a modernised version of the Rooivalk incorporating enhanced operational capabilities. Our ultimate objective is to offer a South African product which will provide an attractive solution for potential export customers around the world," said Mike Kgobe, CEO of Denel Aviation.
Airbus Helicopters' senior vice president, Olivier Lambert, said the collaboration "showed both parties' willingness to strengthen and deepen their relationship with a view to establishing a long-term strategic cooperative partnership".
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