Atlas Aircraft Corporation
Atlas considerably benefited from the political will to circumvent or otherwise minimise the impact of this embargo by turning to domestic industry to meet its military requirements wherever possible.
[3] During 1964, South Africa had obtained a license to produce the Aermacchi MB-326, an Italian ground attack fighter; designated locally as the Impala, production of the Mk I variant commenced in 1966.
[4] Around 125 Impala Mk Is were locally produced for the South African Air Force (SAAF), substantially outnumbering the initial batch of 40 imported directly from Italy.
Reportedly, the Cheetah could carry three times as much ordinance (in terms of weight) as the Mirage III while possessing superior agility as well, the latter partly achieved via the addition of non-moving canards just aft of the engine intakes.
[12] South Africa also embarked on an ambitious development programme intended to produce a modern fighter aircraft to meet its long term requirement under the codename of Project Carver.
[13][15] By 1986, Atlas had selected a design for a lightweight single-engined aircraft, featuring a single vertical stabiliser and a mid-mounted delta wing furnished with leading-edge root extensions (LERX) set above the engine's air intakes.
[14] During 1988, the SAAF, recognising that the project could no longer meet the original schedule, approved an interim programme, known as Project Tunny, to satisfy its immediate air defence needs via an improved version of the Cheetah, the Cheetah C.[14] Amid the Border War, the South African Defence Force recognised the need for a dedicated attack helicopter.
[16] Due to the ongoing arms embargo of South Africa, foreign combat helicopters could not realistically be imported, thus pursuing local development of such a rotorcraft became the most viable option.
[16] The helicopter, later named the Rooivalk, was envisioned as an agile, highly sophisticated gunship, especially suited to the threats of the Angolan theatre and ably countering vehicles such as the T-55 tank.
