Strategic Project Support

This programme was started in 2018, even though its roots go back to 2004.

In 2004 the NAC director whilst an employee of the CSIR, was tasked by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) (now the Department of Science and Innovation) through the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy (AMTS) to develop a national aerospace manufacturing strategy, which become known as the ASSEGAI strategy (A Strategy for a Sustainable, Economical, and Growing Aerospace Industry).

This strategy, published at the end of 2004, became the catalytic strategy for the next 15 years’ worth of development in the sector and led to the creation of not only the National Aerospace Centre (NAC) itself, but also to the Aerospace Industry Support Initiative (AISI) (which has been administered by the CSIR since 2006), as well as industrial bodies such as the Commercial Aerospace Manufacturers Association of South Africa (CAMASA).

This programme was therefore created in 2018 to ensure that the key developments that were achieved over of these 15 years’ (by all players within the sector both industrial and academic) were revisited and analysed to ensure that the NAC strategy and functions remained valid and that the NAC continued to play an active role in support of national strategy.