In the aftermath of the controversial R32-billion weapons deal, the government has plans to spend even more money on upgrading the army. With the dust yet to settle on the government's controversial weapons deal, plans are afoot to spend several more billions of taxpayers' money on another round of arms purchases this time for the army.

The Mail & Guardian confirmed this week that the Department of Defence, together with the government weapons buyer, Armscor, is quietly putting deals together for a complex integrated Ground Based Air Defence System. The system is scheduled to be budgeted in the coming financial year, though it will take between five and 10 years to implement.

A GBADS office is already operational at Armscor headquarters in Pretoria with the army's Lieutenant Colonel Barney Louw appointed as project officer, and Armscor's Johan Swart as programme manager.

Louw told the M&G he was not permitted to discuss the programme with the media and referred queries to a General Johan Jooste. Despite numerous approaches from the M &G, via his office and by means of messages left on his cellphone, however, Jooste had not responded to queries by the time of going to press.

One of the ironies of the new weapons deal is that much of the material will be sourced from former Armscor or Denel units recently sold off to foreign companies at what some commentators believe are surprisingly low prices. GBADS entails the acquisition of various classes of ground-to-air missiles as well the construction of a sophisticated communications component to integrate the missile defences within a single co-ordinated system.

The weaponry in the programme includes self-propelled missiles, short-range air-defence missiles (Shorads) mounted behind trucks, and shoulder-launched portable anti-aircraft devices.

The M&G understands that the GBADS acquisition is to be followed up by two other army acquisitions projects, one called Project Ambition and the other Project Hoofyster, which will result in the refurbishment of South Africa's armoured-car capabilities.

With acknowledgements to Ivor Powell and the Mail & Guardian.