A major South African defense company brought its 1-ton giant “superhero robot” to a special operations exhibition in Jordan last week, with such attention-grabbing gusto word had spread to Amman taxi drivers who wondered, as they shuttled conference goers back and forth, what it was and what it meant.
The robot, which dons a rhino horn on its head, made of parts from Paramount Group’s Mbombe armored vehicle, was originally built to raise awareness against rhinoceros poaching in South Africa.
But at SOFEX, “Parabot,” as it’s called, raised company awareness to an international audience that Paramount is no longer a South African defense company, but a global player with South African roots.
Paramount announced at SOFEX that the Jordanian armed forces would be the first customer for its newest 6×6 armored vehicle — Mbombe 6. But Jordan will be as much of a co-collaborator and producer as it will be a customer.
And Ivor Ichikowitz, Paramount’s founder, told Defense News in an interview, the company is turning its attention toward the US defense market for new opportunities to collaborate.
Ichikowitz started Paramount in 1994 shortly after South African apartheid officially ended. A young activist in the African National Congress, he had “no military background whatsoever,” he said.
Yet, the young man who had been a drama student at a university in Johannesburg, identified, along with the new, transitioning ANC leadership, “one thing that South Africa had that could play a huge role in changing the face of the African continent was, in fact, the defense industry,” Ichikowitz said.
Paramount was “born out of the euphoria” emergent in the country’s democratic era, Ichikowitz said, with intent to go out and help African governments create institutions of defense and security. Its focus was primarily on the vehicle market.
Fast-forward 22 years and Paramount now has global reach and influence, developing systems in the land, air and sea realms, and has employed more than 3,500 people.
Paramount has established partnerships with many countries and companies worldwide, Ichikowitz said.
For instance, it is a risk-sharing partner on the A400M aircraft with Airbus, has a division that upgrades and modernizes Mirage supersonic aircraft around the world, and makes composite rotor blades for Russian helicopters, to name a few.
Paramount is also the largest shipbuilder on the African continent, according to Ichikowitz.
The company is a world leader in the development of specialized production methodologies with new materials. It has pioneered titanium additive manufacturing — essentially 3-D printing technology for titanium.
