Aluminium bodied AHRLAC aircraft from South Africa is all set to fly again

South Africa’s first aircraft since the Apartheid era, AHRLAC, is back in production and ready for deliveries after a separation between the programme’s two shareholders threatened its future last year.

Paramount, the South African defence group, which almost a decade ago invested in the light-attack and reconnaissance platform alongside father and son developers Paul Potgieter senior and junior – emerged late last year as the outright owner of manufacturer Aerospace Development Corporation (ADC).

The Founder and Executive Chairman of Paramount, Ivor Ichikowitz, said: “The newly branded Paramount Aerospace Industries has taken orders for the AHRLAC – which is branded the Mwarai in a militarised configuration – and is preparing for deliveries.”

 A new factory in Wonderboom, near Pretoria, is fully operational.

In 2018, ADC had declared it was close to its first delivery to an unnamed buyer, but Ichikowitz said production was put on hold due to restructuring.

However, he added: “The restructure allowed us an additional year of development work to get the aircraft right.”

The aluminium-bodied, high-winged, tandem-seat AHRLAC is powered by a single rear-facing Pratt & Whitney Canada PT-6 and first flew in 2014.

Ichikowitz stated: “The AHRLAC stands for advanced high-performance reconnaissance light attack aircraft as a multi-mission bus that is a brand new platform that takes you right into that sweet spot of operational need around the world”.

Paramount is pitching the AHRLAC at governments “who want a cost-effective solution” to asymmetric threats to their security.

The key potential reward for the AHRLAC is the US Special Operations Command’s Armed Overwatch programme, which will source around 75 aircraft for close air support, precision strike and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

Paramount is partnered along with training company Vertex Aerospace in a bid primed by US service provider Leidos to offer a variant of the AHRLAC dubbed the Bronco II.

The Chairman said: “The new factory as one of the most modern aircraft manufacturing facilities in the world, with 70% of parts made on-site as part of a vertically integrated model that spans sheet metal to final assembly.”

He adds: “Although we have the capability here to meet much of the global demand directly, our system does allow for portable assembly. We can supply the aircraft in kit form.”

Paramount was established by Ichikowitz in 1994 and has expanded largely by acquisition into Africa’s biggest independent aerospace and defence group; its main product line is armoured vehicles.