Capabilities

Denel Land Systems is a landward defence system solutions business with its primary focus on the requirements of the SANDF as prime contractor and, selected international customers as system integrator and subsystem and product supplier.

Denel Land Systems is a consolidated, program based systems house for the development, production, maintenance and upgrades of infantry systems, artillery gun systems and combat turrets as well as small arms.

The company's strength lies in the unique fine balance of technologies and engineering capabilities allowing it to take complex systems or products through its whole life cycle, from conceptualisation, systems design, development, testing and qualification to industrialisation and production, product support and eventual decommissioning. This strength is enhanced by an entrenched culture of learning which is fostered in the company.

Hierarchical System Level 5 Supplier

Denel Land Systems has the capability (via a Prime Contractor Project Office) to operate as hierarchical system level 5 supplier to its clients. This capability includes prime product(s) system(s) responsibility, rigorous requirements management, traceability, coverage analysis and generation of functional specifications.

Weapon System Design and Integration

Denel Land Systems is a world leader in the design and manufacturing of towed and self-propelled artillery weapons, infantry systems, combat turrets and a range of infantry weapons. The capability to define, design and integrate these systems with small, medium and large calibre guns has been established over more than 30 years of practical experience and battlefield feedback. This has lead to world class products such as:

• G5 155 mm towed Artillery system
• G6 155 mm self-propelled Artillery system
• Rooikat 76 mm and LMT 105 mm Armour combat turrets
• Olifant 1B Optimised tank turret
• 12,7 mm, 20 mm, and 35 mm light combat turrets
• 35 mm Air defence and Naval turrets
• The New Generation Infantry Combat Vehicle System (Badger)
• A range of Infantry Weapons such as the SS77 General Purpose Machine Gun, 40mm Automatic Grenade Launcher, NTW 20 Anti-material Rifle, 60mm and 81mm Mortars

Main Weapon Design

Gun design experience, gained over the past 30 years, is now firmly established in the technological know-how and design capabilities at Denel Land Systems. These capabilities are applied over a wide spectrum of gun development, from 20mm to155 mm calibre. The elements related to Main Weapon design are:

• Barrel design
• Energy transfer and recoil systems
• Cradle systems
• Muzzle brake design
• Breech and obturation systems
• Ballistics
• Cooling concepts
• Dynamic simulation
• Comprehensive test capabilities

Infantry Weapon Design

Infantry weapon design capability is firmly established in the technology and know-how gained over the years. These capabilities are applied over a wide spectrum of weapons development, such as:

• Mini SS 5,56 Light Machine Gun
• SS77 7,62 General Purpose Machine Gun
• NTW 20 x 82mm and 110mm Anti Materiel Weapons
• 60mm and 81mm Mortar Systems variants
• 40mm Automatic Grenade Launcher (AGL)

Structural Design

Turret structures, weapon platforms and gun cradles are integral parts of the system control design and require state of the art design tools and capabilities. Denel Land Systems has successfully integrated these as well as Finite Element analysis (FEM), fatigue analysis and thermal analysis capabilities into its expert knowledge base and products.

Material Handling Design

Modern combat systems require a high rate of fire capability. Material handling concepts have been successfully implemented in the ammunition handling systems of small and large calibre weapon systems.

Gun Drive Integration

Both electric and hydraulic gun drives have been successfully integrated with artillery, infantry, naval and armour turrets. These turret traverse and barrel elevation drives are specified and developed in conjunction with CWAT of Switzerland. System integration and assembly into the turrets are done at Denel Land Systems.

Project Management

Denel Land Systems skills to manage complex programs have been honed over many years. Thanks to the depth of its program management capabilities and state of the art management tools, Denel Land Systems has built an excellent track record to deliver on time and within budget.

Aiming, Pointing and Navigation Integration

Integrated fire control systems for stabilised turrets are specified and developed at Denel Land Systems. New systems have been developed that can be retrofitted to existing combat systems such as the T72 tank. The inertial gyro platforms required for the aiming and navigation of artillery systems are specified and developed in conjunction with Selex and Litef and integrated by Denel Land Systems. Fire Directing Systems are designed to be able to incorporate a range of Sight Systems.

Turret Management System

A proprietary Turret Management System, which is used to link diverse turret subsystems in a modular fashion, enables flexible turret configurations as cost-effective solutions. This affordable hardware forms the main building block of all Denel Land Systems armour, naval and infantry turrets.

System Integration

The success of a weapon system can be traced back to the initial design stages where defining the required operational capability and analysis of the functional requirements of the complete system is done. For example, an artillery system is not only the gun, the projectile, charge or fire directing system, but an integrated system with closely related interfaces that will provide the end-user with an efficient and high performance system. Thirty years of development, support and battlefield experience have placed Denel Land Systems in an excellent position to guide the technological and system requirements of existing and future artillery, infantry, naval and armour weapon systems.

Support and Training

A client's support expectations are defined in the early stages of development. Denel Land Systems experience, of delivering excellent product support over long distances and over continents, spans over a period of more than 25 years. Complete support facilities and programmes have been introduced. For example, two Middle East clients have achieved availability figures of 96% for the G6 155 mm artillery systems over the past few years.

Training packages implemented by specialist trainers and supported by training material are part and parcel of the delivered systems. Denel Land Systems not only provides Operator and Technical training but also User Application and Deployment training.

Specialist Areas

Ballistics

A world leading team of ballistic specialists provide a service not only to Denel's programmes but to clients over the globe. Trajectory simulation, projectile flight analysis and Base Bleed motor modelling are regarded as some of their major achievements. This team's efforts are closely co-ordinated with the design, testing and evaluation of each development programme. Trajectory simulation of foreign ballistic systems can be deduced from a user's range table, cost efficiently and within short time frames.

Metallurgy

Metallurgical specialists provide invaluable information to design engineers and suppliers in order to guide development and production metallurgical input.

EMI Testing

An EMI specialist, test facility and equipment are available and provide invaluable input during design and testing of electrical and electronic equipment.

Test and Evaluation

A successful product depends on testing and evaluation during development. In this respect the Test and Evaluation Facilities of Denel Land Systems make an indispensable contribution towards determining and influencing product quality and performance. Evaluation tests are done as early as possible in the development stages in order to refine and improve a product. Comprehensive test facilities are available. Experimental stress analysis, data manipulation and analysis, durability analysis, and field and laboratory testing provide Denel Land Systems with the full spectrum of product behaviour and design information required to establish a reliable and cost-effective product.