Decision on Rooivalk in six months: Denel

By Donwald Pressly

A decision was likely in the next four to six months on the future marketing of Denel Aviation's Rooivalk attack helicopter, Denel's CEO Shaun Liebenberg has said.

Addressing the National Assembly public enterprises portfolio committee, Liebenberg said the state arms parastatal had an obligation to deliver 12 Rooivalks "operationally ready" for the defence force.

"Once they are delivered they have to be looked after - and it is going to be around for 30 years. We therefore can't close the Rooivalk (programme). We need to support the (South African) Defence Force in terms of maintenance."

However, he said the question was whether there was life "beyond the (South African) Air Force."

"The commitment (of management) is that we will continue to communicate as far as the Rooivalk is concerned."

He noted that Denel - which he acknowledged was under funding and budgetary pressures - had a roadmap with "clear gates" through which the project had to pass. If it could not achieve opportunities once it reached those gates at the appropriate points, "then we will no longer market the Rooivalk on the open market. These issues should be cleared in the next six months".

He emphasised that the project could not just "hang around" indefinitely.

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