Electronic Warfare established itself as an important facet of warfare during and after WWII. However, it was only during the Vietnam conflict and, especially, the Yom Kippur war of 1973 that it became clear that it was actually a critical facet of modern warfare.

During this period South Africa itself was becoming increasingly embroiled in conflicts with Soviet backed forces and it was not to be long before advanced Soviet systems such as the SA-8 were to make their appearance.

In response to the escalating threat a top level decision was taken in the mid 1970’s that Electronic Warfare was strategically important.Various EW systems were subsequently acquired from various sources. At the same time the National Institute for Defence Research embarked on several research and development projects under Armscor and SA Defence Force funding and guidance.

This initiative soon filtered through to local industry and within a decade South Africa was essentially self-sufficient and it was not too long after that South Africa had become an exporter of technologically advanced EW systems.

SYSDEL (acronym for System Development Lab) is proud to have been part of this history from the beginning.

Registered in 1978, SYSDEL was initiated by a small team of engineers with backgrounds in radar development.

Although the original focus was on EW research and development a fullcapability including production and life cycle support was soon established.

We have delivered airborne, naval and ground based  ESM, ELINT and ECM systems to the SA Defence Force.Our products have also been exported to users in Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia and the Far East.

We are particularly proud of our record of on-schedule delivery of reliable, cost-effective solutions to real operational requirements.

To quote an Air Force general during the early 1990s:

                                                 “SYSDEL stands for SYStems DELivered"

SYSDEL has nevertheless remained a compact, dynamic company that is 100% privately owned and run by engineers.

We are able to tackle major projects through sub-contracting alliances with a number of specialist companies. All system level and detail electronic design is done in-house as is final system integration and test. Software design and implementation is also done in-house.