The South African military aerospace industry: An overview of the special defence account more commmonly known as 'The South African Arms Deal'

Abstract

The paper focuses specifically on the South African Military Aerospace Industry as most of the weapons procured under the arms deal were military aircraft. Taking into account the numerous social needs of South Africa, the purpose of this paper is to inter alia try to establish the rationale behind the South African government's decision to to purchase an array of military weapons from foreign suppliers at an initial cost of almost thirty billion rand. In order to gain a better undrstanding of the topic, the author gives a brief overview and history of the South African Aerospace industry.Furthermore, an examination of the politics of the transition from apartheid to democracy and how this affected the aeropace industry is given.