Africa Aerospace and Defence 2026 remains a major international defence exhibition, with companies and official delegations from around the world represented at Air Force Base Waterkloof. But for those who came to see aircraft, there is a noticeable difference this year. Foreign aircraft participation, both on the static ramp and in the air, is considerably lighter than at previous editions of AAD. There are still some welcome international visitors. An Angolan Air Force C-29

By Garth Calitz AAD 2026 day one is done and dusted and if the opening address by Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga is anything to go by, South Africa is about to become an aerospace and defence industrial powerhouse... Again. The 13th Africa Aerospace and Defence Exhibition opened at Air Force Base Waterkloof on 16 September with all the familiar ingredients: sovereignty, localisation, industrialisation, innovation, skills development, job creation, expo

By Garth Calitz There was a time when military aviation was fairly straightforward. You had an aircraft, a pilot, some weapons, a radar and, if things went particularly badly, a very expensive meeting afterwards. Those days are disappearing rapidly. One of the most obvious trends at Africa Aerospace and Defence 2026 is the sheer prevalence of unmanned systems. What was once regarded as a specialist niche populated largely by remotely piloted surveillance aircraft has evolved

By Garth Calitz Airbus and Johannesburg-based ALT Academy have signed an MoU at the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) 2026 exhibition at AFB Waterkloof, establishing a framework for cooperation in aircraft maintenance training. The agreement is aimed at addressing the growing demand for appropriately trained aviation maintenance personnel as African airlines expand their fleets and introduce increasingly sophisticated aircraft and systems. Under the MoU, Airbus and ALT Acade

By Garth Calitz The 13th Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) Exhibition and Air Show is officially underway at Air Force Base Waterkloof in Pretoria. The speeches have been made, the formalities have been handled and the obligatory handshakes have been exchanged. Now it’s time for the action. While the trade exhibition and conference get down to business, the skies over Waterkloof will also get busy, with airshow validation flights continuing throughout the trade days as parti

By Garth Calitz After years of talking about building a twin, Sling Aircraft is finally turning the dream into aluminium — with the prototype now taking shape in Cape Town and a maiden flight planned for June 2027. South Africa's Sling Aircraft is taking a major step beyond its successful single-engine aircraft with the development of an entirely new twin-engine Sling, a project that the company says has been made possible by a fundamental shift in the regulatory environment.

By Garth Calitz There are airline-manufacturer relationships, and then there are relationships that become so deeply embedded in an airline's operation that separating the two starts to look rather like trying to remove an aircraft engine with a butter knife. Airlink and Embraer fall firmly into the second category. Over more than two decades, the South African regional carrier and Brazilian aircraft manufacturer have developed a relationship that extends well beyond the trad

By Rob Russell Not a horror movie gone wrong, but a stunning, moving display to remember a horrendous and shocking event in our history. On the evening of Wednesday, 9th September, months of planning culminated in downtown New York, as the sky filled with drones watched by thousands who had gathered to see the unique event. To mark the 25th anniversary of the destruction of the Twin Towers, it was decided to do something unique, never seen before and very appropriate to the l

Angola is taking another step into the rapidly evolving world of unmanned aviation, with the delivery of six ANAVIA HT-100 NAVAL unmanned helicopters for its new generation of naval corvettes. The six aircraft, built by Swiss manufacturer ANAVIA, have completed Factory Acceptance Trials and have been handed over to the Angolan Navy. Two systems will eventually be carried by each of Angola’s three new BR71 MK II Combattante-class corvettes, providing the ships with an organic

General Atomics AeroTec Systems (GA-ATS) has brought the iconic twin-turboprop back into production in Germany with the Do228 NXT, an extensively modernised evolution of an aircraft whose combination of STOL performance, ruggedness and versatility has made it a familiar sight in remote and demanding operations around the world. The programme reached a major milestone on 2 May 2026, when the Do228 NXT demonstrator completed its first flight from Oberpfaffenhofen. The flight ca