Hensoldt South Africa unveils spectrum management system at AAD 2026

Hensoldt South Africa has introduced an Automated Spectrum Management System at the Africa Aerospace and Defence 2026 exhibition, a platform that consolidates the planning, coordination, assignment and monitoring of the electromagnetic spectrum into one controlled environment.

The system, known as ASMS, was developed by the company’s GEW business unit, its spectrum dominance arm. As DefenceWeb reported on 18 September, the launch took place at the AAD 2026 exhibition.

The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of radio frequencies that carries military communications, sensing, command and control, and electronic warfare. It is also a finite resource shared by military, civilian and commercial users, and it is becoming more congested as demand grows from every direction.

That congestion is the problem ASMS is built to address. Defence spectrum authorities must coordinate requirements across services, units, equipment, locations and activities while complying with national regulations and protecting sensitive information. Fragmented systems and manual processes can produce delays, conflicting assignments, inefficient use of the spectrum and a higher risk of interference.

What the system does

ASMS brings the full spectrum management lifecycle into one environment. It supports spectrum planning, application processing, spectrum engineering, spectrum enforcement and spectrum monitoring.

Automated, rules-based workflows assess applications against defined criteria, including intended use, duration, location, applicant role and equipment type. The system keeps an up-to-date record of authorised spectrum use, giving a clear view of who may transmit, where, when and under which conditions.

“Access to the electromagnetic spectrum has become fundamental to mission readiness,” said Ryno van Staden, Head of Sales at Hensoldt South Africa’s GEW business unit. “ASMS helps customers move from fragmented and manually intensive processes towards a more coordinated spectrum management environment. By improving visibility and control, it helps make the right spectrum available to the right authorised user, at the right place and time.”

Within the broader Cyber and Electromagnetic Activities environment, ASMS provides a spectrum management foundation. It supports coordination of operational users and capabilities by improving visibility of spectrum requirements, assignments, restrictions and authorised use. The system can serve defence operations, training, exercises, equipment testing and experimentation. Role-based access helps protect sensitive organisational, equipment and location information while enabling coordination across services and between defence and civilian spectrum authorities.

The South African base behind it

Hensoldt South Africa employs more than 700 South Africans across five sites, making it the Hensoldt Group’s largest industrial base outside Europe and one of the country’s largest defence and security electronics companies. Its product range spans electronic warfare, optronics, spectrum monitoring, security solutions, radar, identification friend or foe systems and datalinks.

GEW has worked in electronic support, electronic attack and electronic warfare since the 1960s. Its signal intelligence and spectrum monitoring systems are in operation in more than 30 countries, including with the South African Air Force, Army and Navy, and with ICASA, the country’s communications regulator. Its jamming systems are used to protect fixed targets, convoys, individual vehicles and foot patrols against remotely controlled improvised explosive devices and other threats.

The presentation at AAD 2026 supports Hensoldt’s stated strategic focus on the future of land electronic warfare, spectrum dominance and multi-domain operations.

For a South African reader, the significance sits in two places. The first is the industrial one: a system of this kind designed and built locally, by a company whose South African operation is its largest outside Europe, is work that stays here in skills, employment and export earnings. The second is regulatory. ICASA manages the country’s civil spectrum, and the defence force is a major user of it. A platform that improves visibility of who is transmitting, where and under what conditions speaks directly to the coordination problem that has grown as more users compete for the same airwaves.

The company said the system helps customers move from fragmented and manually intensive processes towards a more coordinated spectrum management environment.

Source: DefenceWeb, Hensoldt introduces Automated Spectrum Management System.