South Africa’s defence industry closed out its best export year on record in 2025, with permitted sales passing R10 billion for the first time, and its main trade association used its annual general meeting last month to argue the country can push that figure much higher still.
A near-tripling in a single year
Figures from the National Conventional Arms Control Committee’s 2025 annual report to Parliament’s joint standing committee on defence, as reported by TimesLIVE, show South Africa issued 582 export permits worth R10.1 billion to 42 countries in 2025, nearly triple the R3.6 billion recorded in 2024, and well above the R7.1 billion exported in 2023 and R4.6 billion in 2022. A further R600 million in dual-use goods was exported under 132 permits to 14 countries.
Munitions made up the largest single category at about R4.8 billion, which industry sources attribute mainly to Rheinmetall Denel Munition, including a single German contract worth R3.3 billion for 73,586 rounds and shells. Armoured vehicles added just over R1 billion across more than 130 units, with Kenya (34 vehicles, R278 million) and Malawi (15 vehicles, R145 million) among the buyers. Aircraft sales went to Iraq (six aircraft, R802 million), the Democratic Republic of Congo (four aircraft, R618 million), Mozambique and the United Arab Emirates. By region, Europe took 42% of exports, the Middle East 23%, Africa 20%, Asia-Pacific 12% and the Americas 3%.
Industry body posts its own record
The South African Aerospace, Maritime and Defence Industries Association (AMD) held its annual general meeting jointly with the South African Aerospace Maritime and Defence Export Council (SAAMDEC) at Denel’s Irene Campus in October, where honorary treasurer Thivash Moodley reported the association’s own revenue rose about 34% in the 2025/26 financial year, a gain he attributed largely to a strong Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition in 2024, according to DefenceWeb’s report on the meeting. AMD chief executive Sandile Ndlovu said the association now receives membership applications “on a daily basis.”
SAAMDEC chairperson Michelle Nxumalo struck a more cautious note, telling members that “a milestone is not a destination” and that the industry needs to translate a strong year into sustained growth rather than treat the record as a conclusion. The two bodies confirmed AMD will act as lead partner for AAD 2028, the next edition of the biennial exhibition that drives a large share of the industry’s export deals.
Government support becoming more coordinated
Part of the optimism rests on improved coordination between industry and government. SAAMDEC held its first-ever formal engagement with the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa (ECIC) this year, which Nxumalo said matters because defence exports typically require financing, guarantees and long-term risk cover that smaller manufacturers cannot arrange alone. A five-point plan emerging from the Defence Industry Lekgotla held earlier in the year set out a goal of positioning South Africa as a preferred defence partner internationally, with an eventual target of R30 billion in annual defence exports, roughly three times the 2025 record.
Provincial governments are also paying closer attention: the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape have reportedly joined Gauteng in identifying the defence sector for targeted economic support, and the Southern African Development Community has permanently added aerospace and defence to its annual Industrialisation Week programme. Qatar was named as an emerging market of interest, with Ndlovu noting that South Africa’s foreign intelligence service had identified opportunities there during a recent visit.
A sector that has drawn scrutiny too
The export boom has not been without controversy. The NCACC itself has faced parliamentary criticism over oversight failures and delayed reporting in the past year, and the committee has had to publicly deny that South African-made weapons reached Gaza, Ukraine, or any UN-embargoed destination. Those disputes sit alongside, rather than inside, the export figures themselves, which were presented to Parliament as part of the NCACC’s statutory annual reporting obligations.
What we could not confirm
- AMD’s own 2025/26 revenue figures were reported only as a 34% increase; the underlying rand value of AMD’s revenue was not disclosed in the sources available.
- The timeline and funding mechanism for reaching the stated R30 billion export target have not been published in detail.
- Specific companies behind most line items beyond Rheinmetall Denel Munition’s attributed share of munitions exports have not been officially confirmed by name.
- Any response from the Department of Defence or Armscor to the AMD/SAAMDEC AGM announcements could not be found at the time of writing.
