At the recent (21 – 25 September 2022) Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition in Pretoria, Sandock Austral—long recognized for its shipbuilding abilities—displayed its expanded options, which included anti-material guns, mission commander solutions, and a solar power plant.
According to Sandock Austral, for more than 60 years it has established a reputation as one of Africa’s top ship repair, maintenance, and building companies. Among its accomplishments is the record for the largest ship ever constructed on the African continent.
The holding company for Sandock Austral Aerospace, Sandock Austral Shipyards, Sandock Austral Defence Engineering Systems, and Sandock Austral Energy has recently expanded to offer more comprehensive defence solutions and is now focusing on the energy industry.
Prasheen Maharaj, the CEO of Sandock Austral Group said: “The operational model of Sandock Austral is to harness the available local talent, which has been responsible for the development and industrialisation of cutting-edge intellectual property, and to consolidate it into a sizeable transformed defence and commercial technology company.” In addition, Sandock Austral claimed to be South Africa’s largest black-owned defense corporation in terms of revenue and facilities held.
“Our vision is to provide marine, defence, aerospace technology, engineering, and project management solutions in a manner that leads to shared prosperity and equality leading to global peace and stability,” Maharaj alluded.
Sandock Austral displayed a pre-wired and completed solar plant in a 20-foot container as part of its Dispatchable Solar Solution at AAD 2022. For quick on-grid and off-grid deployment, this mobile solution consists of solar panels and an inverter. It is expandable, and solar modules can be joined in any number to construct a mobile solar power plant.
“Sandock Austral Energy (SAE) seeks to provide bespoke energy solutions in line with global and local sustainability priorities,” said Rob Shongwe, CEO of Sandock Austral Energy. “Fundamentally, SAE specialises in the engineering, development, financing, construction, and commissioning of complex systems configured with various components that can be dependent on any range of energy carriers and/or sources. With the current challenges countries face to limit global warming, we pride ourselves in providing our client requirements in both brown and green energy fields,” Shongwe said.
In Durban, Sandock Austral Energy is producing a lithium-ion battery energy storage facility for residential, industrial, and utility use. Sandock Austral Energy owns the intellectual property on a unique battery energy storage system (BESS).
AAD 2022 included a 20 mm anti-material rifle that Sandock Austral can provide as well as surveillance options on the landward side. For the South African Navy, Project Hotel at Sandock is the construction of a brand-new hydrographic survey vessel.
The company provides small to medium-sized offshore oil and gas industry clients with building and maintenance services as well as repairs for all types of steel and aluminum vessels and marine structures. Sandock Austral Shipyard, previously Southern African Shipyards, provides shipbuilding and repair services (SAS). This shipyard, which is the biggest in southern Africa, has produced both military and commercial vessels.
The SAS Drakensburg for the South African Navy, the Ratel infantry combat vehicle fleet, and the G6 artillery system for the Army were all constructed by Sandock Austral, a defense conglomerate known for shipbuilding and armoured vehicle manufacture, in the 1970s and 1980s. Early in the 1990s, the business was deconglomerated, and many businesses bought up Sandock’s parts, turning the original into a bankrupt shell corporation.
Source: DefenceWeb