Africa’s leading ammunition manufacturer, Denel PMP, is partnering with Nordic company, NAMMO, to produce niche products that meet the specialised needs of the South African National Defence Force.

Among these are 12.7mm multi-purpose ammunition utilizing explosive projectiles for use by machine guns mounted on armoured vehicles as well as helicopters.

Phaladi Petje, the CEO of Denel PMP says there is an agreement with the Norwegian/Finnish group to market its products in Africa. The multi-purpose projectiles are moved to PMP’s facilities in Pretoria West where the projectiles are loaded into PMP cartridge cases in a process called “lapping” – loading and packaging.

He says there are clear opportunities in the market for specialised ammunition that is not locally produced. Currently PMP is the primary supplier of small and medium calibre ammunition for rifles and handguns to the SANDF and the SA Police Service.

The 12.7mm calibre is a multi-purpose ammunition that is predominantly used by Browning machine guns mounted on armoured vehicles and helicopters. Such weapons can fire ammunition at up to 650 round a minute and are highly effective against opposing armoured vehicles.

The ammunition is qualified for the South African market and PMP is looking at opportunities for application within the maritime and air force environment, including on the Lynx multi-purpose helicopter in service with the SAAF.

Petje says the value of PMP’s partnership with NAMMO was recently underscored during a demonstration at the SA Special Forces School at Murrayhill, north of Pretoria. During the live firing, observed by senior officials of the Department of Defence, PMP demonstrated the capabilities of its multi-purpose ammunition and NAMMO 66mm M72 shoulder-launched rockets.

The multi-purpose round has excellent armour piercing capabilities and is most effective against material targets including buildings and enemy installations.

Ends

For further information, contact:

Pam Malinda

Cell: +27 (0) 82 686 2198
Tel: +27 (0) 12 671 2662
email: pamm@denel.co.za

Please share on: