Mwari recon plane proves SA’s military vehicle design chops still intact

The men in the dark blue pilot jump suits don’t sound local and, although I don’t manage to get a glimpse of the national flags on their shoulders, I know they’re from Africa.

And they’re here at Wonderboom Airport outside Pretoria learning to fly the Mwari, the advanced reconnaissance, surveillance and precision strike aircraft which is the first South African-designed and made manned military aircraft since the ill-fated Rooivalk attack helicopter failed to win any foreign orders back in the 1990s.

Their presence – and nationality – is still confidential, so just as well I didn’t see their flags… Paramount Aerospace Industries, makers of the Mwari, have a more successful tale and announced at the Africa Aerospace and Defence Expo it has secured firm orders from a number of air forces for the plane.

Nine aircraft have been ordered, representing more than two years’ work for the firm’s production line at Wonderboom.

The first Mwari will be delivered this month, somewhere in Africa. That, in itself, is a significant achievement in a number of ways.

The aircraft is manned by a crew of two – either both pilots or a pilot and systems operator – and is being marketed for its advanced information and intelligence-gathering capabilities. It has state-of-the-art electro-optical sights as an option, but can also be equipped with weapons.

It is envisaged it could play a major role in antipoaching, maritime safety and monitoring, as well as in counterinsurgency operations.

At a “flyaway” price of $10 million (about R178 million) – before back-up and optional systems – the Mwari is not cheap and must, surely, be going head to head with the sort of sophisticated armed drones such as the Turkish Bayraktar, which has become the star of the Ukraine air war.

Paramount Aerospace Industries chief executive Mike Levy acknowledges that competition from the drone sector is serious, but points out that having “four human eyeballs” in the cockpit offers a wider field of view than any drone camera can.

Test pilot Mark Berg agrees. He says US special forces operate similar manned recce aircraft – where the pilot is actually a qualified special forces operator.

“He can see and assess what is happening and provide an appreciation rather than just raw data.” Also, says Berg, the associated costs of drones – such as the ground support station and crew – are significant and go some way to balancing the cheaper price tag on an unmanned aerial vehicle.

“Also, to operate a drone effectively, you have to have a 100% reliable downlink for the data, which is not always the case.”

The pilot says the tandem seating layout offers the crew an unparalleled unobstructed field of view, because of the lack of a propeller in the front – Mwari has a “pusher” prop, powered by a Pratt & Whitney turboprop engine at the back – and the high wing.

“The kind of look-down option you have in this aircraft you don’t get anywhere else,” adds Berg, noting that being in the front pilot seat – Mwari can be flown from both stations – is “like a chair in the sky”.

Levy also notes that the Mwari has an endurance of more than six hours and can fly a “combat radius” of up to 1 000km, another advantage over current tactical drones, which are mainly confined to battlefield use.

More than the mere technical victory in manned over unmanned aircraft is the fact that African governments have seen the value of the Mwari.

It is simple for air and ground crews to use and maintain and is affordable when compared to similar manned systems.

One of the big pluses from the Rooivalk system and which was pushed, albeit it in a subtle manner, by the then Armscor sales teams, was that South African products, particularly in the defence sector, do not come with strings attached, as many systems from the big powers do.

Paramount Aerospace Industries is not only looking to Africa but has been talking to potential customers in the Far East.

The aircraft offers an appropriate solution to what many see as a different form of warfare, which characterises the smaller conflicts of this century Eric Ichikowitz, senior vice-president of Paramount International said: “Mwari is a game changer for air forces. It’s purposefully designed for the kind of asymmetrical warfare that modern military forces across the world are being asked to conduct.

“The aircraft has a critical role to play in the connected battlefield, providing forces on the ground and in the air with a force multiplier competitive advantage.”

The Wonderboom production facility recently gained international ISO 9100 status – as good as any aircraft manufacturer in the world – for its processes, design and engineering, which are computer-integrated, allowing for complex, yet strong, structures, to be made and executed.

It’s been 12 years in gestation but as the first Mwari leaves the nest this week, the light at the end of the tunnel of SA’s industrial decline will have just glowed a bit brighter.

– brendans@citizen.co.za