Plane to combat poaching

It looks a bit like a futuristic cross between a jet fighter and an attack helicopter, but the Ahrlac is South Africa's answer to the piracy and poaching scourges afflicting the world.

In a move aimed at putting South Africa back on the map as a world leader in aircraft development, arms company Paramount Group and aeronautical engineering firm Aerosud yesterday unveiled the first new combat aircraft developed in the country in almost a quarter of a century.

The Ahrlac, or Advanced High Performance Reconnaissance Light Aircraft, is a light two-seater strike plane.

A scale model mock-up of the twin-tail plane, with a propeller mounted behind its fuselage, was unveiled at the Centurion Aerospace Village.

Aerosud managing director Paul Potgieter said the light aircraft had been designed to be deployed in rough conditions.

It can fly at a maximum cruise speed of 500km/h and remain airborne for up to 10 hours with a range of about 2000km.

Its cockpit, similar to that of an attack helicopter, and high-wing design, allow both pilots maximum visibility.

The Ahrlac will primarily be used for surveillance, armed maritime and border patrols, anti-poaching operations, counter-insurgency and emergency supply missions.

It can be fitted with sophisticated infrared, radar and electronic intelligence and communication intelligence-gathering equipment in a hub underneath the fuselage.

But the little plane also has bite. Six "hard points", designed for weapons to be rapidly "clipped" on and off, allow it to carry light rocket pods, smaller missiles and bombs and external fuel tanks.

It is also fitted with a belly-mounted 20mm cannon and has space for two ejection seats.

Defence expert Helmut Heitmann said the plane was aimed at dealing with the increasing threat of "guerrilla bandit groups" involved in narcotics, piracy and poaching.

Heitmann said fighter jets and combat aircraft were not always ideally suited to deal with these threats and that the design was pretty much unique at the moment.

Paramount Group executive chairman Ivor Ichiko-witz said his company would keep the price tag for one of the planes under R80-million, adding that the two companies would begin taking orders in the next few weeks.

The plane's flight test is scheduled for next year. The companies hope to start producing the aircraft late next year.