GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT, DEVELOP, AND ENABLE THE SOUTH AFRICAN SPACE INDUSTRY

摘要

Aerospace is used to refer to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates, and maintain vehiclesmoving through air and space. The aerospace sector can be divided into two sectors, namely air and (outer?) space,both of which have military and civil market segments. The South African aerospace industry has followed adevelopment path unlike any other national models as a result of the unique history of the country. This resulted in awide scope of capabilities and infrastructure for complete vertical product integration far in excess of what would becommercially sustainable in the global market today. South African industry developed and implemented thecapability to design, develop and produce complete aerospace products in terms of aircraft, helicopters, weaponsystems, unmanned aerial systems and satellites. This implies integration and technological capabilities that spans asignificant portion of the aerospace product and technology stream segmentation as defined in the South Africanaerospace sector development plan. With the levels of revenue, access to global markets and level of supportrequired to successfully bring products to market and continue development, the structure of the industry was just notsustainable both economically as well as commercially. This paper sketches the current milieu in the industry, withvarious Government departments currently playing an active and significant role in the industry. Central to thesedepartments, are the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Trade and Industry (thedti). Both of these Government departments have invested significantly in the industry over the last couple of yearsand has partnered with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to establish initiatives which aim tosupport, uplift and enable the local South African industry. This paper focuses on two such initiatives, namely theAerospace Industry Support Initiative (AISI) as well as the National Earth Observations and Space Secretariat(NEOSS), and their role in enabling the local space and earth observation industry. The AISI aims to support andimprove industry through industrialisation of industry development projects and supplier development initiatives.The National Earth Observation and Space secretariat on the other hand, focuses on the interface with the usercommunities and addresses such issues as user requirements and access to earth observation data. These userrequirements in turn inform the industry.