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State-owned Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor) is looking to rope in consultants to review its intellectual property (IP) portfolio, technical expertise and facilities as it develops a profitable business case.<\/p>\n
Part of this process could include licensing its IP. According to DefenceWeb, an Armscor study in 2016 found that its IP portfolio was worth more than R400bn if industrialised.<\/p>\n
This is as the country\u2019s defence industry stands at the crossroads<\/a> and toys with private sector partnerships.<\/p>\n Armscor, the procurement arm of the department of defence, has gone to market in search of consultants to identify underutilised assets and benchmark the company\u2019s opportunities against comparable defence procurement and ultimately draft a three-year implementation plan. <\/p>\n \u201cArmscor seeks to systematically expand its value proposition by pursuing sustainable, noncore revenue streams that leverage its unique assets, accumulated expertise and specialised infrastructure, without compromising its mandated defence obligations or national security responsibilities,\u201d the request for proposal reads. <\/p>\n \u201cThis will enable Armscor to attract and secure new customers, generate sustainable income streams and enhance long-term financial resilience.<\/p>\n \u201cThe preferred bidder scope encompasses identifying revenue streams leveraging Armscor\u2019s assets, assessing domestic and international opportunities, developing profitable business cases with financial viability \u2026 providing implementation recommendations, including partnerships and commercialisation strategies.\u201d <\/p>\n According to the request for proposal, the revenue generation opportunities Armscor is looking for are in the following areas:<\/p>\n Research and development and IP licensing;Cybersecurity;Specialised facility leasing; Engineering support; andDefence export facilitation.<\/p>\n \u201cAll reports, data, financial models and intellectual outputs produced under this assignment will be the property of Armscor,\u201d the tender document reads.<\/p>\n \u201cThe consultant must provide all underlying editable models and supporting assumptions to enable Armscor to review, update and reuse the outputs after completion of the assignment.\u201d <\/p>\n Armscor last month participated in a defence industry lekgotla, aimed at providing a strategic platform to diagnose structural challenges, identify critical interdependencies across the South African defence ecosystem and develop practical and collaborative solutions to strengthen the sector.<\/p>\n Trade minister Parks Tau told the lekgotla that the country must confront the long decline of its defence industry<\/a> after three decades of shrinking procurement, collapsing research funding, the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and an exodus of skills that will be hard to replace.<\/p>\n Deputy defence minister Bantu Holomisa told the lekgotla that South Africa must explore innovative funding models and public-private partnerships to strengthen the country\u2019s defence capability, warning that the SANDF cannot rely solely on additional allocations from the National Treasury to address growing infrastructure, equipment and modernisation challenges.<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s defence force acquisition from the domestic industry fell to R850m in 2017 from R26.2bn in 1989\/90.<\/p>\n Read: Skills gone and not replaced: Tau urges hard reset to defence industry<\/a><\/p>\n Armscor in its 2025 annual report said it has taken the lead in exploiting \u201cseveral substantial export opportunities\u201d as arms manufacturer Denel struggles to burnish its reputation in international markets following years of underperformance.<\/p>\n Armscor\u2019s primary clients are South Africa\u2019s department of defence, the police and the Border Management Authority. <\/p>\n