HENSOLDT in South Africa

Our biggest manufacturing sites outside Europe

To become a leading, platform-independent provider of defense and security sensor solutions with global reach, our South African sites are crucial, as they are HENSOLDT’s biggest international industrial footprint outside Europe at the moment.

To further our business and increase the collaboration between our South African sites, we united the two entities GEW Technology and HENSOLDT Optronics Pty under the HENSOLDT brand to from HENSOLDT South Africa.

In 2019 we launched the new brand HENSOLDT South Africa. In 2020 HENSOLDT acquired the ATM and Defence & Security business units of Tellumat in South Africa.

Part of the HENSOLDT Group

HENSOLDT South Africa

HENSOLDT South Africa unites our two South African entities GEW Technologies and Optronics (Pty) Ltd. under one brand. Consolidating GEW and Optronics under the HENSOLDT brand is an important strategic step towards future growth of our South African business. It gives us the opportunity to leverage the power of the HENSOLDT brand and our global footprint to open new market opportunities for our South African business.

This is only a first step towards our HENSOLDT South Africa Growth Strategy and the creation of a South African sensor solution house. We are committed to further investing in the growth of our South African footprint. Our experience in the country shows that international investment and cooperation added to local infrastructure, skills and capacity is the perfect mix for business success and local economy growth.

Our Sites in South Africa

Pretoria

Our site in South Africa’s capital Pretoria is the headquarter of our subsidiary GEW Technologies (Pty) Ltd. Established in 1968, GEW is now a major supplier of innovative communication intelligence, spectrum management and security products and systems. We are designing and manufacturing applications for communication monitoring, direction finding, communication countermeasures, spectrum management, perimeter security and force protection at the site in Pretoria.

Originally founded to supply the South African National Defence Forces, GEW has since then internationally grown and today its systems are in use in many countries around the world. GEW profits from modern in-house facilities such as development and design, production centres, environmental and EMC testing laboratories, vehicle and shelter installation facilities as well as an antenna test range.

The two main shareholders are HENSOLDT and the Kunene Finance Company. About 260 employees work at the site in Pretoria. It is situated close to the city centre of Pretoria and only a 20 minutes’ drive away from our other site in South Africa, which is located in Irene.

Our sites in South Africa

Irene

Irene is situated in the Gauteng province between Pretoria and Johannesburg. Our site there is embedded in the Denel Dynamics company campus, as HENSOLDT Optronics (Pty) Ltd. was formerly wholly owned by Denel.

Our site in Irene can trace its roots back as far as 1978, when it formed part of Kentron, the company established by the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (ARMSCOR) to develop missile technology. Until today, Denel Dynamics carries on the operations of the former company Kentron and is still wholly owned by the South African government.

The main capabilities of HENSOLDT Optronics (Pty) Ltd. are the design and development of advanced airborne surveillance and targeting solutions for defence and security application. These electro-optical and infrared systems are optimised for airborne intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance missions. In addition, we manufacture a wide range of eye-safe
laser rangefinders as well as parts of our submarine periscopes in Irene.