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2019-02-01

Success Confirmed of Dynamic ShieldAfrica 2019

ShieldAfrica 2019 has just closed its doors with a record 3,650 professional visitors, 67 participating journalists, 143 exhibitors and 129 delegates from 29 countries, including companies from China, Kazakhstan, Turkey and the United States. Running from 22nd-24th January 2019, the 5th edition also hosted 65 official delegations, including 9 ministers and deputy ministers, 10 army chiefs of staff and 4 special representatives of Defence Ministers, Ministers of the Interior and 5 Director-Generals of customs or border protection.

Belarus, Bulgaria, France and South Africa opened four national pavilions amidst an innovative range of equipment and products specific to African countries, emphasising that ShieldAfrica is a successful platform for exchange between African authorities and international manufacturers. With the participation of the Special Forces, Police Research & Assistance Force and the Intervention Unit of the National Gendarmerie of Cote d’Ivoire alongside the French Special Forces, the live demonstrations proved a real success, highlighting the professional know-how and significance of these units in Africa’s development.

With most of the 2017 exhibitors returning in 2019, amongst them Airbus, Cristanini, Thales and Nexter, the following reports gives the highlights of the fair, including new exhibitors like Rafael, Otokar and Elbit.

Otokar Growing in Africa

A Koc Group Company with over 30 years of experience in military vehicles in 32 countries, Otokar used ShieldAfrica to promote its own design armoured tactical vehicles and turret systems.

According to General Manager Serdar Görgüç, Otokar "continues to strengthen its position in the international defence industry with its technological superiority, engineering power and design capabilities. The success of Otokar's armoured vehicles has always been a reference for new orders. Today, more than 30,000 military vehicles designed to meet user expectations and needs against present day and future threats are actively used in several different missions in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Central Europe. Africa is among our principal markets and we aim to increase our presence in the continent. This is our first attendance in Shield Africa exhibition - we believe it will be a good opportunity for us to reinforce our relationships in this sense."

Serdar Görgüç underlined that, as a registered NATO and United Nations supplier, Otokar delivers the vehicles with most in line with African requirements, "We have been able to gain significant experience about responding to the needs and expectations of this region through the military vehicles currently serving here. Otokar has also started to stand out in global scale, not just for its products with fully-owned intellectual property rights, but also with its know-how, engineering, R&D and technology transfer capabilities. In addition to promoting our broad product range during the exhibition, we will also look for the new opportunities including technology transfer."

Otokar designs and manufactures a wide range of tactical armoured vehicles, including 4x4 URAL, COBRA, COBRA II, KAYA II, ISV, ARMA 6x6 and ARMA 8x8. Standing apart with its expertise in design, development and system integration, Otokar products are recognised for their survivability, superior tactical and technical features along with high ballistic and mine protection when serving in various types of missions, including border patrol, fighting vehicle, command post and reconnaissance.

Armytex Parachute-Braking from Kazakhstan

Exhibiting for the first time at ShieldAfrica, Kazakhstan presented Armytex, a producer of parachute-braking systems for front-line aircrafts and NAVYCO, a manufacturer of components for main battle tanks and combat vehicles.

Armytex parachute-braking for the MiG-29, MiG -31, Su-25 and Su-27, Su-29 air vehicles also serves as an unloading wheel brake system which reduces the rolling length. Armytex’s production capacity is around 300 systems per year, creating export potential while covering Kazakhstan’s defence needs.

Alongside engine cooling radiators and high-pressure fuel pumps for T-72, Т-55, T-62 tanks and BMP-1, BMP-2 infantry combat vehicles, NAVYCO’s main activity is the overhaul and assembly of series B-2 and series 20 diesel engines for armoured vehicles. NAVYCO also manufactures armoured units and components for main battle tanks, infantry-fighting vehicles and engineering vehicles.

China’s Sky Saker UAV

ShieldAfrica 2019 saw Chinese Company NORINCO unveil its new turbojet reconnaissance UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) - the Sky Saker FX500. It is an advanced high altitude and high-speed aerial platform with stealth performance. This UAV offers significant efficiency advantages for reconnaissance missions alongside greater battlefield penetrability and survivability compared with traditional ground reconnaissance vehicle and low-speed reconnaissance UAVs.

Suitable for key targets preliminary reconnaissance and survey, target location, target illumination, artillery fire correction, damage assessment, the FX500 adopts exterior contour stealth design with small RCS (Radar Cross-Section). Featuring strong field survivability, RCS reduces detection probability by enemy radar while avoiding most air-defence fire.

Elistair Showcases Orion

As an automated, powerful and highly portable tethered drone system, French company Elistair’s ORION UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) offers aerial solutions for surveillance and communications. Designed for continuous aerial day and night surveillance over extended time periods and over large areas, ORION is perfectly adapted for demanding law enforcement, private security, public safety missions and military use.

Robust and stable, ORION hosts a military-grade day/night surveillance camera covering wide areas, with a push-button system requiring minimal piloting skills or general human intervention during operation. ORION’s enclosed structure and aviation grade propulsion design can be used in poor weather conditions to avoid interference, jamming or hacking thanks to fully secured and high-speed transmissions via the Elistair micro-tether.

Based on complementary redundancies (propulsion, energy chain, IMU’s, autopilot and satellite positioning), Orion is fully secured to minimise human errors, while the smart parachute system protects equipment integrity and people standing nearby. Orion cameras combine state-of-the-art gimbal stabilisation and crystal-clear imagery with low latencies thanks to the micro-tether high-speed and interference-free data transmission technology. Equipped with leading industrial sensors, Orion surveillance cameras are thus the ultimate solution for persistent aerial surveillance to capture and stream sharp imagery, detecting, tracking and protecting assets.

Nexter Equipment Range
Nexter’s CAESAR 155mm artillery system and highly protected 4x4 Armoured Vehicle ARAVIS principally draws upon the expertise of the French Army's use of the Armoured Combat Vehicle (VBCI) on African territory, while Nexter’s ShieldAfrica booth also exhibited the 105LG towed gun and the TITUS armoured personal carrier (APC) in their homeland security (HS) versions. Versatile, robust and reliable, this equipment meets African needs perfectly in the city and difficult terrain, across the full spectrum from peacekeeping to high intensity missions through counter-terrorism and homeland security.

Nexter’s other innovative solutions on display included the NERVA monitoring-and-recognition mini-robot range and the FINDMP digital system for decision-making process, alongside the mobile clinic system enabling effective care even in hard-to-reach areas. In terms of aerial and maritime dimensions, Nexter presented different adaptations of its famous 20mm gun (20 * 621) on several weapons mounting, including the P20 (manual mounting for light vehicle), the POD NC621 (Pod canon for helicopters and light aircraft), the NARWHAL (tele-operated and stabilised naval turret), or the 15A/15B (light naval mounting), with a wide range of tank, artillery, naval and aeronautical ammunition ammunition ranging from 20 mm to 155 mm.

Arquus’ Trigger ALTV

Previously Renault Trucks Defence, French company Arquus presented its interior security and defence TRIGGER light vehicle, as a robust and versatile vehicle specifically designed for Africa. With a new-generation, rugged and resistant chassis and minimal electronics, the TRIGGER ensures high availability and easy maintenance, available for both interior security and defence forces.

ShieldAfrica welcomed the TRIGGER in a fire support configuration with a 12.7mm machine gun. Renowned for its endurance and versatility topping all pick-ups in African service, the vehicle was developed on the same militarised base as the VT4, the French Army’s new command, patrol and liaison vehicle.

Arquus’ Bastion is a battle-proven modern vehicle designed for troop transport, combining a high-protection armoured hull as the proven chassis of the VLRA premium partner for numerous African states in their daily operational theatres. Renowned for its robustness and armour, the Bastion can include a command post, ambulance and field workshop, ensuring easy maintenance and low ownership costs with high tactical mobility.

Belarus Presents Kaiman 4x4

Having sold 10 vehicles to Côte d'Ivoire - 3 for the Gendarmerie and 7 for the Special Forces - Belarus’ defence industry presented the Kaiman next-generation 4×4 armoured vehicle. Fully designed and manufactured in Belarus’ “140 Repair Plant”, the Kaiman is a light-armoured reconnaissance vehicle fitted with independent torsion bar suspension and two waterjets for amphibious operation.

With a monocoque hull of a length of 6 m, a width of 2.82 m, a height of 2.07 m and a ground clearance of 490 mm when fully loaded, the Kaiman can accommodate a crew of six and features a fully loaded weight of up to 7,000 kg with armour reinforced by a detachable spall liner. The hull has two side doors and three roof hatches, while the front of the vehicle protects against 7.62 mm bullets fired from a Dragunov SVD sniper rifle (Level 2 STANAG 4569) with both sides ensuring protection against 5.45 mm and 7.62 mm bullets fired from Kalashnikov AK-74 and AKM assault rifles (Level 1 STANAG 4569).

The basic variant of the Kaiman features a pintle mount for a weapon and an armoured shield providing the gunner with all-round protection against splinters and small-calibre bullets. The vehicle can be armed with a 7.62 mm Kalashnikov PKMB medium machine gun (MG) (with an ammunition load of 2,000 cartridges), a 12.7 mm NSV Utyos heavy MG (with an ammunition load of 300 cartridges), or a 30 mm AGS-17 Plamya automatic grenade launcher (with an ammunition load of 174 cartridges).

The manufacturer has also integrated the Adunok remote-controlled weapon station (RCWS) onto the vehicle, which is an MG with an ammunition load of 200 cartridges. The vehicle's main armament is complemented by six Tucha smoke grenade launchers installed on the vehicle's sides in two banks.

A number of other systems and sensors have been integrated with the Kaiman, including a navigation system, video cameras and an engine control device. The vehicle's armament suite can be replaced with a satellite communication suite and parabolic antenna, while a combat management system and air cooling unit are available at customers' request.

HGH’s Spynel Border Protection

The French Company HGH profited from ShieldAfrica 2019 to present its world-renowned panoramic thermal sensor SPYNEL. Spynel-X is the Infrared Search & Track (IRST) providing the best image resolution and the longest detection range on the market by capturing full 360° images in real-time with unparalleled resolution of 120 Mpix.

As a passive, wide-area surveillance system, Spynel-X ensures unprecedented real-time security against conventional and asymmetric threats, gathering the latest innovations in thermal sensing within a solid and field-proven mechanical design. The Spynel-X infrared camera reveals the highest performance in its category, where one single IR sensor can provide 24/7 early human intrusion detections over a 16km-diameter area.

Equipped with HGH’s Cyclope advanced-threat detection software, the 360° IR sensor allows early target discrimination over extremely wide areas, both at night and during the day whatever the weather, and even in fog or smoke. In addition, an unlimited number of tracks can simultaneously be detected and identified thanks to images of high definition, with no exception made for barely-detectable threats like swimmers, RIBs, low altitude air targets, UAVs or stealth aircrafts.

HGH’s SPYNEL-X is the solution for wide area surveillance, continuous perimeter security and critical infrastructure protection. This innovative company will hopefully return to the next ShieldAfrica on 25th-28th January 2021.

Reference Text/Photo:www.shieldafrica.com

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