A new observation system is to be fitted in SA Air Force Cessna Caravan aircraft, defence product supplier Denel said on Thursday.

The Argos 410-Z military airborne observation system would enhance and expand the aircraft's ability to perform long-range search and rescue, surveillance, reconnaissance, and other observation missions, it said.

The system was equipped with a thermal imager, a daylight television camera with zoom lens, eye-safe laser rangefinder, and autotracker.

It also had a mission awareness positioning system which would provide the operator with GPS co-ordinates of "objects of interest" through a high-accuracy, integrated inertial measurement unit.

The contract for the supply of the system was awarded to Denel Optronics last month by the Department of Defence's acquisition organisation, Armscor.

Denel said the system would contain the latest generation optronics from the German firm Carl Zeiss Optronics - which signed an agreement last month to acquire a 70 percent stake in Denel Optronics as part of Denel's restructuring process.

With acknowledgements to Sapa and Independent Online.