{"id":648842,"date":"2026-06-01T11:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T09:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=648842"},"modified":"2026-06-01T11:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T09:05:00","slug":"state-owned-aerospace-and-defence-company-has-a-plan-to-turn-south-africa-into-the-continents-premier-space-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/science\/648842-state-owned-aerospace-and-defence-company-has-a-plan-to-turn-south-africa-into-the-continents-premier-space-hub.html","title":{"rendered":"State-owned aerospace and defence company has a plan to turn South Africa into the continent’s premier space hub"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

State-owned aerospace and defence company Denel outlined its plan to turn South Africa into the continent’s premier space hub as part of its grander turnaround strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recent presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans, Denel’s CEO, Tsepo Monaheng, estimated that building this capability would require more than R2 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monaheng said that since Denel could no longer ask the South African government for additional funding, it was now aggressively pursuing “smart partnerships” with private companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2016, the once-prominent defence manufacturer has seen its revenues collapse amid rampant corruption and mismanagement<\/a> by its executive staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company is poised to implement a turnaround strategy and is actively seeking revenue-generating opportunities beyond its legacy contracts and older projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it is still struggling to secure funding and is pursuing partnerships with private companies in South Africa and internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monaheng detailed plans from Denel to turn the Overberg Test Range in the Western Cape into a “space campus” that African governments could utilise as a base for their launch needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are looking to create a business from space, and the space division is currently under review,” said Monaheng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are going to need an excess of R2 billion in order to get it to the level of a space campus that will be servicing the whole continent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Located near the small fishing town of Arniston<\/a> in the Western Cape, the Denel Overberg Test Range was South Africa’s premier facility for weapon testing and space technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, reports indicated that Elon Musk was considering buying a stake in the facility to launch SpaceX rockets. However, these plans never materialised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year prior, the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) deployed a new rocket gantry at the Overberg Test Range, marking the latest publicly announced upgrade the facility received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denel aggressively seeking private partnerships<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Denel’s Overberg Test Range near Arniston, Western Cape<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SANSA successfully used the rocket gantry that year to launch a satellite that measured Earth’s magnetic field during a short flight of under seven minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside planned improvements and the expansion of the test range, Denel’s CEO also said the “space campus” plan would involve satellite and ground-station manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, this manufacturing would take place in its facilities in Gauteng, while the launch capabilities would be located at the Overberg Test Range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monaheng said that, since the company lacked the capital to commit to the plan and leadership no longer wanted to look to the government, Denel would seek outside partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The best solution for us to successfully execute our corporate plan is to identify strategic partnerships at different levels,” said Monaheng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Denel had already identified a long list of projects across different organisational structures. In its aerospace and space divisions, it has identified partnerships in Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In space, we have identified that we have to grow this area, and we will be unable to do it unless we have strategic partnerships,” Monaheng said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We don’t have R2 billion, but if we have smart partnerships in that case, we can achieve that.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that Denel would require some level of partnership to develop competitive launch capabilities at its Overberg Test Range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company already has a research and development partnership with the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in order to modernise its products and solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monaheng explained that Denel’s product range required urgent research and development (R&D) to remain globally competitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was especially pertinent in light of rapidly evolving battlefields experienced in ongoing global conflicts. The CEO said Denel would pursue partnerships to broaden its product offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would enhance existing partnerships with companies like Lockheed Martin or establish new ones with companies like Embraer to support the maintenance of platforms such as the Rooivalk and the Oryx.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denel is also poised to expand its development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), both rotary wing and transitioning, and its capabilities in the design and manufacturing of low Earth orbit satellites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denel’s CEO said that the company is approaching partners to help it turn South Africa into the continent’s space launch hub.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341213,"featured_media":646905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31750],"tags":[3446,19625,105362,105159,11373,5360,105363,34909],"class_list":["post-648842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-csir","tag-denel","tag-denel-ceo","tag-denel-overberg-test-range","tag-elon-musk","tag-sansa","tag-tsepo-monaheng","tag-uav"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648842"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648842"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":650593,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648842\/revisions\/650593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}