Publication: Business Day Issued: Date: 2009-02-25 Reporter: Hopewell Radebe

SA Mine-Safe Vehicle Makes Mark Abroad

 

Publication 

Business Day
Date 2009-02-25
Reporter Hopewell Radebe

Web Link

www.businessday.co.za


 
LAND Systems SA yesterday unveiled its new version of SA’s most successful mine-protected vehicle for export.

The latest version of the company’s acclaimed RG series of mine-resistant personnel carrier vehicles ­ the RG31 Mk6E ­ made its international debut at the IDEX exhibition of modern defence weaponry and technology in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The South African RG series of products has boosted the country’s exports by more than $430m (about R4,34bn) since a Canadian armed forces order for RG31 Mk3 vehicles was received in 2003.

Spokeswoman Natasha Pheiffer said the RG31 Mk6E boasted new antimine seats. These provide enhanced protection to the occupants from lumbar spinal injuries, which can be caused by the shock-waves associated with land mine detonations.

The seats incorporate shock attenuation crushable elements developed at Land Systems SA. Tests have shown that these absorb some of the vertical impulse associated with mine blasts, reducing the likelihood of injury during large land mine explosions.

Pheiffer said the company had sold more than 2 200 RG31 vehicles, including a series of major orders for the US military, which operates the RG31 and its stable-mate, the RG33, in Afghanistan and Iraq. Of these, more than 1300 RG31 mine-protected vehicles have been delivered to American and Canadian forces.

The US RG31s are manufactured by Land Systems OMC in Benoni and also under licence by General Dynamics Land Systems in Canada.

Land Systems SA is jointly owned by BAE Systems (75%) and the black economic empowerment group, DGD Technologies (25%).

The company said there had been a steady expansion of the order book for vehicles, spares and support for new customers around the globe.

Spain had recently placed an order for 100 of the RG31 model.

The group’s customers include the UAE’s special operations command , which operates 76 RG31 Mk5 vehicles, of which 70 are armoured personnel carriers and six are command vehicles.

Pheiffer said the RG vehicle programme has created more than 300 new jobs at BAE Systems’ Land Systems OMC factory near Johannesburg, and many more throughout its supplier network.

Company MD Johan Steyn said: “We are confident that this latest development will further confirm our South African business as the world leader in mine-protected vehicle technology.”

Steyn attributed the company’s success to applying new concepts and designs influenced by customer and operator feedback.

With acknowledgements to Hopewell Radebe and Business Day.


Moeletsi Mbeki and Diliza Mji are laughing and laughing and laughing all the way to the bank.

Maybe if Thabo's stash every runs dry they can help him out a bit.

SA's mine-safe vehicles and corvette gearboxes are certainly making their mark to DGDT's bank balance.

And for doing exactly what?

What value do they bring to the table?

Is it Diliza Mji's R22,5 million financial investment in Land Systems?

But Dilizi Mji was the treasurer-general of the ANC's in kwaZulu-Natal just before DGDT invested in Land Systems.

And Diliza Mji then became CEO of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).

As the IDC's CEO he authorised himself a loan of the R22,5 million to purchase his shares in DGDT and in Land Systems.

There is another similar story coming straight out of the Arms Deal.

Thabo Mbeki and Joe  Modise annointed Futuristic Business Solutions (FBS) as Thales International's 25% BEE partner in African Defence Systems (ADS).

Thales and ADS then got a R1,6 billion contract for the corvette combat suite.

Not much later they got another R350 million initial contract for the SA Army's Ground-Based Air Defence System (GBADS Phase I).

So FBS got a very goodly share of the profit of this.

Did FBS pay for it shares in ADS.

Yes, but the money was loaned to them by Thales to by the shares in the first place.

The dividends then got escrowed until the shares could pay off the loan.

For the first couple of years Lt Gen Lambert Moloi actually had an office, extension number and maybe a fax machine in the ADS building in Midrand and pretended that they made a contribution to building a R2,6 billion corvette combat suite.

But by about 2004/5 even this got too much and Moloi and his co-bumiputerians Ian Elvis Pierce, Yusuf Joe Mohamed, and Tshepo Molai retired to the comfort of their own homes to collect the monthly director's fees and annual dividends delivered to them by electronic funds transfer.

Now that's power.

Financial empowerment.

Black financial empowerment.

But it's not economic empowerment.