# Paramount secures nine orders for Mwari aircraft

- Link: https://www.military.africa/2022/09/paramount-secures-nine-orders-for-mwari-aircraft/
- Published: 2022-09-25T23:12:34+01:00
- Author: Military Africa

South Africa-based Paramount Aerospace Industries has sealed deals with multiple
unnamed customers for its [Mwari turboprop ISR and light attack aircraft](https://www.military.africa/2020/01/why-african-countries-should-consider-buying-the-south-african-made-mwari/).
The company is set to deliver its first Mwari multi-role aircraft to an overseas
air force on September 23.

Announcing the sales at the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) 2022 defence exhibition
near Pretoria, the subsidiary of Paramount Group said that deliveries to one of 
the undisclosed customers are under way. A total of nine customisable Mwaris are
on order, Paramount said. The company added that demand levels have enabled ‘full
levels of production’ at its factory in Wonderboom near Pretoria.

Ivor Ichikowitz, the founder of parent company Paramount Group, said that Mwari 
was ‘purposefully designed for the kind of asymmetrical warfare that modern military
forces across the world are today being asked to conduct. The aircraft has a critical
role to play in the connected battlefield, providing forces on the ground and in
the air with a force multiplier competitive advantage’.

> [Paramount Mwari: low-cost multi-mission aircraft](https://www.military.africa/2020/01/why-african-countries-should-consider-buying-the-south-african-made-mwari/)

“Mwari addresses a key global security requirement from air forces around the world,
of any size, for advanced ISR and precision strike capabilities,” the company said
in a news release. “It integrates design concepts from helicopters, surveillance
platforms and reconnaissance aircraft with the ability to carry multiple systems,
such as surveillance radar and electro optic sensor systems.”

The orders for nine new Mwaris for the two separate air forces represent an important
milestone in Paramount Aerospace Industries’ commercial success and has resulted
in full serial production of Mwaris at Paramount Group’s Wonderboom National Airport
aircraft factory. Paramount Aerospace Industries CEO Mike Levy says the milestone
is a “proud moment” for Paramount and Africa’s aerospace industry.

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“The development and deployment of Mwari underscores the strategic importance of
a world-class, indigenous African aerospace industry, one that can quickly and collaboratively
address the increasing security threats, conflicts and insurgencies which Africa
presently faces.”

“[These orders] are effectively work for us for the next two years, at least,” he
adds.

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Currently, Paramount Aerospace Industries is capable of producing three Mwaris a
year, with plans to ramp up capacity to five units a year, as and when demand requires.

The Mwari is a clean-sheet design, explains Levy. “We started completely from scratch,
which makes it quite unique. Not too many aircraft are designed completely from 
scratch.”

He adds that the design and specification of Mwari originated from the requirement
for a small multi-role surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft that is easy and
quick to deploy, even from unprepared or rough-terrain runways. This is also advantageous
to operate in anti-poaching, anti-people trafficking and counter insurgency applications.

The Interchangeable Mission Systems Bay aboard Mwari houses a suite of onboard situational
awareness and ISR technologies such as an encrypted, high-bandwidth data link and
multi-spectrum search and track sensors; long-range optical and radar surveillance
systems; an SA7 CRM SATCOM link; AIS for ship identification; and real-time video.

Mwari can operate at up to 31,000ft altitude with a maximum cruise speed of 250kt
and mission range of up to 550nmi when carrying ordnance, plus mission endurance
of up to 6.5h.

Paramount International senior VP Eric Ichikowitz says the Mwari is purposefully
designed for the kind of asymmetrical warfare that modern military forces across
the world are today being asked to conduct.

“The aircraft has a critical role to play in the connected battlefield providing
forces on the ground and in the air with a force multiplier competitive advantage.”

Based on both Paramount Group’s commitment to innovation and its extensive research
and development and manufacturing experience, the Mwari has been designed with portable
production in mind.

As such, the aircraft can, depending on customer requirements, be exported in kit
format for final assembly in customer countries, and can easily integrate into supply
chains around the world, enabling scalable mass production.

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Sam Amsterdam, a spokesperson for Paramount Group, would not provide contract values
nor identify the customers for the Mwari, but did tell the media that one is an 
African air force. While Ichikowitz highlighted the announcement as an accomplishment
for the defense industry in Africa — and the promising future to manufacture and
develop more technologies on the continent.

“Our announcement here at AAD 2022 is not only a breakthrough in the aerospace arena,
it also serves as a milestone in our continent striving for greater high-skills 
training and technology-driven employment opportunities,” Ichikowitz said. “A strong
defence industrial complex has been proven time and again to bolster sustainable
economic growth.”

Although, this is not the first time Paramount Group is announcing the sale of its
Mwari aircraft. In 2018, Paramount Group Executive Chairman Ivor Ichikowitz announced
during a press briefing at the Farnborough International Airshow on 18 July, that
it has secured a customer for the Mwari. The South African defense company’s CEO
also disclosed that the Mwari have begun rolling off the production line, with the
first launch customer to be revealed soon. “We are in an active sales campaign and
we are getting excellent customer feedback. More importantly, we are starting negotiations
with a number of key players around the world.”

In March, Mwari was equipped with [advanced anti-drone technologies, enabling the deployment of the aircraft as an effective hunter and killer of Medium Altitude and Long Endurance Drones (MALEs)](https://www.military.africa/2022/03/mwari-gains-drone-hunter-killer-capabilities/),
says Paramount Group. The clean-sheet designed Mwari is the next evolution in ‘Find,
Fix & Finish’ technologies optimized for the anti-drone defence environment, capable
of engaging MALE drones at altitudes of 20,000-30,000 feet, where only highly sophisticated
and costly ground-based air defence systems (GBADS) can reach, and which would otherwise
require the intervention of fighter jets.

## Mozambique Mwari

Late last year, Military Africa revealed that the Mwari has been [sold to the Mozambican military](https://www.military.africa/2021/11/mwari-in-cabo-delgado/)
for use in the restive Cabo Delgado region. There have been no official statement
from Paramount regarding the deployment of the unarmed Mwari to the Mozambican war
torn region.

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