Lead partner for the next Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition set down for September 2026 – the Commercial Aviation Association of Southern Africa (CAASA) – is on track to build on the twelfth event at Air Force Base (AFB) Waterkloof in Centurion.
Writing in the Association’s final newsletter for 2024, Chief Executive Kevin Storie notes the four-strong partnership that manages AAD “recognised and deliberated upon the errors and areas needing focus to address the lessons learnt in our strategic planning session” set for early 2025.
This, according to him, will pave the way for effective early planning. “We recognise that early planning and preparation at least 18 months in advance must become the new standard for AAD 2026 and all partners are committed to this approach.”
The partners are, in no particular order according to the AAD website, the Department of Defence and Military Veterans (DoDMV), Armscor, the SA Aerospace, Maritime and Defence Industries Association (AMD) and CAASA.
Closing down for the year, Storie notes proposed AAD meetings are all diarised and “we look forward to ensuring a successful AAD 2026”. On the drawing board are meetings with South Africa’s recreational and general aviation (GA) sectors to “bring their much-needed injection into this part of our aviation landscape”.
A GA hub, along with ones for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and space, were new additions to AAD 2024.
Statistics-wise, AAD 2024 saw 33 official foreign delegations attend on the trade days where, in addition to meeting SA defence industry (SADI) captains and senior officers of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) they were able to visit nine national pavilions, all included in the 30 exhibitor countries list. AAD 2024 recorded trade visitors from 33 countries as per the official post show report. The exhibition was – as always – popular with Mr and Mrs John Citizen shown by the tally of thirty-seven thousand plus public visitors, the majority over the 21 and 22 September weekend for the AAD air show.
