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 Wednesday, September 18, 2002
South Africa’s Denel Group has announced an upgrade to its successful
“Ingwe” anti-tank missile at the Africa Aerospace & Defence (AAD2002)
exhibition in Pretoria.
The “Ingwe” anti-tank missile was developed by Kentron Dynamics,
a business unit of Denel’s Kentron division, and has also found
export success in the market.
“Our Ingwe design team set out to improve the missile’s performance
under high launch dynamics found typically when the missile is
fired from a moving platform like an attack helicopter,” explains
Willie van Biljon, Kentron General Manager. “If the helicopter
flying forward at high speed were to launch the missile, we don’t
want the missile to become less effective at its maximum range.”
Ten production Ingwe missiles were upgraded with new algorithms
and launch tests done in August 2002 proved highly successful.
Data from the on-board data logger on each missile was analysed
to refine the guidance software before the next launch was done.
The test included different manoeuvres after launch and also varying
the attitude of the platform (helicopter) during the firing.
All ten missiles were successful over launch distances exceeding
5 000 m and launch speeds in excess of 200 km/h. According to
Willie van Biljon, the results satisfied all the design goals.
“This improved Ingwe certainly adds another dimension to an already
very successful product for Denel and shows Kentron’s world class
capabilities in missile design and development.”
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