{"id":649663,"date":"2026-05-30T11:01:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T09:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=649663"},"modified":"2026-05-30T11:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T09:03:12","slug":"denel-wants-to-increase-production-and-development-of-uavs-to-capitalise-on-the-global-boom-in-drone-warfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/government\/649663-denel-wants-to-increase-production-and-development-of-uavs-to-capitalise-on-the-global-boom-in-drone-warfare.html","title":{"rendered":"Denel wants to increase production and development of UAVs to capitalise on the global boom in drone warfare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South African state-owned aerospace and defence company Denel wants to increase production and development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to capitalise on the global boom in drone warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recent presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans, Denel CEO Tsepo Monaheng said the company is looking to boost sales to turn its fortunes around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2016, corruption and mismanagement at the embattled defence manufacturer<\/a> have led to its revenue collapsing from R8.2 billion to R1.3 billion between 2016 and 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monaheng said that growth and market expansion were among its key strategic pillars for the 2026 financial year, as the firm aims to become the supplier of choice for the South African military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, to achieve sustainable revenue, Denel must ensure its product range remains current and meets evolving customer requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We must invest in this technology, especially in light of rapidly evolving battlefield experience in ongoing global conflicts,” Denel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driven by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and playing out on battlefields in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, drones are increasingly becoming the face of modern warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global Market Insights<\/a> estimated that the market for military drones reached $20.7 billion this year and is forecast to reach $66.5 billion by 2035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Market leaders include Israel Aerospace Industries, Lockheed Martin, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, the Thales Group and Northrop Grumman Corporation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In our environment, the products that are competitive today will not be competitive in five years’ time, so we have to continue to innovate and advance our products,” said Monaheng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the Denel Dynamics division, the company will focus on developing UAV technology, including rotary-wing and transitioning UAVs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rotary wing UAVs look similar to household drones from DJI, whereas transitioning UAVs combine vertical takeoff and landing with the benefits of a fixed-wing aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monaheng explained that, due to Denel’s lack of funds, the state-owned manufacturer will have to establish strategic partnerships with foreign firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s military drone technology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Denel Skua target drones during takeoff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“Regarding technology partnerships for us to more quickly achieve the modernised products, Denel shouldn’t be asking for money,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Instead, we should be focused on this area, to ask for investment in technologies and capacities for us to be ready to support [the SANDF] at any point in time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) spends the vast majority of its annual budget on staff salaries, Denel will be forced to reach out to foreign customers with its new products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denel was an early pioneer in UAV technology during the 1970s and 1980s and had an existing catalogue of drones manufactured in South Africa for warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denel’s most commercially successful drones are in the Seeker family, reconnaissance drones used by the SANDF and international clients such as Algeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This included the Seeker 400, a multi-mission-capable surveillance system. It can fly for 16 hours uninterrupted and carry laser-guided missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For training, Denel built the Skua, a high-speed turbojet-powered target drone shaped like a missile that helps militaries and air forces train pilots and weapons specialists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can fly at an altitude of up to 11,000m and has a maximum speed of Mach 0.86, or about the speed of a commercial aeroplane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company also built Hungwe, a multi-purpose light UAV with a 4m wingspan, a 6-hour range, and a maximum altitude of 12,000ft. It can deliver a payload of up to 5kg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denel said that the Hungwe was built for border patrol, anti-piracy operations, game park surveillance and battlefield support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, modern armies increasingly lean towards cheaply manufactured, expendable drone technology, aiming to inflict as much damage as possible at the lowest cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Iranian Shahed drone, used extensively in Ukraine, is more of a low-tech flying bomb than a high-tech surveillance system like those Denel manufactured in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Photos of UAVs manufactured by Denel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Hungwe drone. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Seeker 400 drone in flight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Hungwe drone in flight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South African state-owned defence company Denel wants to increase research and development on combat drones as part of a bid to turn the ailing company around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341213,"featured_media":649676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18668],"tags":[19625,38053,105468,105463,2848,105466,105465,105467,105363],"class_list":["post-649663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-denel","tag-dji","tag-hungwe","tag-portfolio-committee-on-defence-and-military-veterans","tag-sandf","tag-seeker","tag-shahed-drones","tag-skua","tag-tsepo-monaheng"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649663"}],"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=649663"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":650577,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649663\/revisions\/650577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}