United States rifts a big boost for one South African company
Paramount Group, the South African-founded defence company, said a widening rift between the US and its European allies is opening up new markets, including with NATO members.
The private company, now active in about 30 nations, traditionally focused on selling its products, such as armoured vehicles, across Africa and in developing nations such as Jordan, Ecuador and Kazakhstan.
Now there are opportunities in Europe, said Deon Grobler, who leads Paramount’s international vehicle business and product development.
“We are definitely seeing shifts,” Grobler said Wednesday at the Gerotek testing facility west of South Africa’s capital, Pretoria.
“There were no NATO markets two years ago. That has definitely opened up. All of a sudden spending has changed completely out of Europe.”
The opportunity to profit in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation amid European nations’ waning confidence in the US coincides with a collapse in military spending in South Africa.
That has added further impetus to the company’s international expansion.
Through its Greek unit, Paramount is already working with local partner MAC HUB in Ukraine to manufacture armoured vehicles.
The venture’s MAC OWL armoured vehicle was certified for use by Ukraine’s armed forces in June, Paramount said in a statement at the time.
The MAC OWL is based on Paramount’s Mbombe 4 Infantry Combat Vehicle, a four-wheel, 16-ton mine-protected truck with a top speed of 140 kilometers per hour (87 miles per hour) and a range of 800 kilometers.
Paramount, founded in 1994, also produces the six- and eight-wheel Mbombe infantry combat vehicles, the Marauder and Maatla armored cars, and the Maverick and Marshall public order and internal security vehicles.
Increasingly, Grobler said, the company focuses on protection from drones as well as mines.
Paramount is also working with MAC HUB to manufacture and sell its MAC Dead Fly interceptor drone and KATRAN uncrewed surface vessel in Europe and Africa.
Other foreign deals include armored car manufacturing with a local partner in the Czech Republic and an upcoming light armored multipurpose vehicle made with an Indian partner, to be unveiled at an exhibition next month in Pretoria.
“Our portable production model allows South African technology and intellectual property to be combined with local manufacturing and industrial partnerships in international markets,” said Mathews Phosa, chairman of Paramount’s South African unit.
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