The South African Government has set growth targets it hopes that the local defence industry will achieve over the next few years. This was reported by Secretary of Defence and Military Veterans Dr Sam Gulube on Friday. He was delivering the keynote address at the 2019 Aerospace, Maritime and Defence Conference, in Pretoria.

Currently, he pointed out, the South African Defence Industry accounted for 0.47% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and directly employed 15 000 people. The industry had suffered from years of declining defence budgets in South Africa, a result of the country's economic difficulties, and had become dependent on exports.