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The Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Mr Parks Tau says the transformation agenda must be an integral part of the work of the Aerospace Industry Support Initiative (AISI), as it continues with the serious task of supporting and developing small and medium enterprises.

He was speaking at the 20-year commemoration of the agency held at the Waterkloof Airforce Base in Pretoria, as part of the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition for 2026.

AISI was established by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) to strengthen the competitiveness, sustainability and growth of South Africa’s aerospace and defence industry through building capability, research, design and innovation. It is supported and managed in its work by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

the dtic funded the AISI supported companies to showcase their capabilities, products, technologies and capabilities at the AAD 2026. 

In the past decade alone, AISI has supported 142 small and medium enterprises, helped create and sustain more than 1 236 jobs, enabled the development of 148 new technologies and products and assisted firms in securing 49 international certifications and standards.

Speaking at the 20 year commemoration, Tau said preserving sovereign industrial capability, advancing dual-use technologies, and retaining and upskilling critical technical skills are essential to South Africa’s national security and long-term competitiveness.

“Transformation matters here more than in most sectors, precisely because aerospace and defence, have always been among the hardest industries to enter. Capital intensity, certification requirements and decades of concentrated ownership have kept these industries largely closed to black entrepreneurs and emerging enterprises. If we do not deliberately open that door, the next twenty years will simply repeat the exclusions of the last,” 

He added that currently, AISI requires the firms it funds, to hold at least Level 4 B-BBEE status, and it is deliberately building a pipeline of black industrialists, innovators and technology who must be able to compete in local and global markets.

Issued by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic)