2022 was a better year for the South African defence industry compared to 2021, with R1 billion more in products being exported to countries around the world.
Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) late last month was briefed by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) on its quarterly reports for 2022 by Advocate Ezra Jele, NCACC Secretariat Head.
He provided a breakdown of import and export permits for the four quarters of last year, which showed that for the 2022 calendar year, South Africa exported R4.679 billion (US$ 259.86 millions) worth of military hardware and munitions, up from R3.353 billion the year before.
Much of this increase came in the last quarter of 2022, when the NCACC approved 161 export permits to the value of R2.458 billion. This compares with 152 permits valued at R818 million for the third quarter; 146 permits valued at R570 million for the second quarter; and 127 export permits valued at R833 million for the first quarter of the year.
While Jele did not give a breakdown of what the export permits covered, it is likely that ammunition made up a large component, along with armoured vehicles. Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM) in particular secured multiple large (millions and tens of millions of euros) contracts last year for 155 mm artillery ammunition and 40 mm grenade launcher ammunition. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, last year South Africa exported approximately 200 armoured vehicles.
With regard to import permits, in 2022 the NCACC authorised 263 permits valued at R281 million – this compares with 250 permits worth R205 million authorised in 2021.