Armscor now has a war room in its inventory of equipment to transform project oversight.
The Pretoria headquartered defence and security acquisition and project management company has it the war room is an integrated physical and digital command centre “designed to consolidate project intelligence, enable early risk identification and enhance reporting”.
Phase one of the war room and its associated monitoring system was launched in November, according to the December edition of the Armscor newsletter Inside Out. The launch event saw some insight into how “the new system leverages dashboards, predictive analytics and automated tracking to modernise project execution, providing leadership with a clear line of sight across the project portfolio”.
The war room was symbolically taken into service by way of a ribbon cutting with Armscor Deputy Chair Margaret Ndlovu wielding the scissors after what the newsletter said was “months of preparation”.
“This milestone aligns with Armscor’s commitment to improving project delivery and restoring stakeholder confidence through measurable performance excellence,” according to the newsletter.
The final newsletter of 2025 also welcomes the appointment of Sipho Mbhokota as Chief Operations Officer (COO) and a new non-executive board member, Professor Mfanelo Ntsobi.
Mbhokota’s appointment signals his return to Armscor where his “extensive experience” – over 25 years – in the defence and security sector with research and development, operations management and strategic leadership knowledge and know-how will strengthen operational capabilities. His CV includes a stint at the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) as Executive Manager of its defence and security cluster.
According to the CSIR he joined the organisation in 2014 as Competence Area Manager for the Integrated Systems Group what was then its Defence, Peace, Safety and Security unit.
“His career in the defence and security sector spans over 20 years, with 10 of those years spent as a member of the SA Air Force (SAAF), where he was a Systems Engineer in the VIP Squadron [21], as well as a Project Engineer on the RSA Airbus A400M Aircraft Acquisition team. Prior to joining the CSIR, he was Divisional Manager for Engineering Services at the Armscor Dockyard in Simon’s Town,” according to the CSIR.
Mbhokota has Bachelor and Master of Engineering degrees from the University of Pretoria along with a Master of Business Administration qualification from Stellenbosch University.
Ntsobi is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sci-Bono Discovery Centre. The Johannesburg centre is acknowledged as South Africa’s largest science centre. It supports maths, science and technology education and offers innovative, dynamic learning experiences that contribute to building South Africa’s science, engineering and technology capacity.
