Manufacturer and exporter Desert Wolf which has recently reinstated its Sassda membership is currently playing an instrumental role in Project Teamster, the new SANDF project to upgrade the complete field kitchen facilities for the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and is currently supplying it with a range of stainless steel diesel field stoves and diesel modules.

Managing Director Hennie Kieser says; “During 2016 and 2017 we completed the design and manufacture of the first phase of the project, which encompassed a mobile field cooking unit for 15 people (FCU-15). The cornerstone innovation comes from our BOMA-30D 5.5kW diesel stove using a combination of 304 and 3CR12 stainless steel, which runs in the field on any grade of diesel available across Africa.

“We are now starting on the next phase, where we will deliver the diesel cooking modules for the new 50-man and 200-man containerised kitchens, where we make extensive use of stainless steel throughout the manufacturing process, as these are busy kitchens and hygiene is a priority. Each container kitchen will feature two large boiling pans, a flat top double purpose griller and a large convection oven,” Kieser explains.

In terms of its current product offering he elaborates; “We only use stainless steel in the construction of all Desert Wolf trailers, with the chassis made from 3CR12 and the body 304 or 316, depending on the operating environment of the trailer. The joy of using stainless steel is when you see a customer bringing in a trailer for service that is more than 20 years old and still showing no signs of age.”

African expansion
Looking to expand its reach even further, Desert Wolf is now exporting to countries across Africa with its most recent distributions including surveillance and generator equipment to Ghana, Mozambique and Angola and mobile field kitchens to Namibia and Botswana.  “This year we have established Desert Wolf Zambia, a new arm of our business and we plan to export and locally manufacture our range of mobile surveillance equipment for the Zambian mining market.

Each range of surveillance and communication trailers has been built with a specific purpose in mind, as surveillance units, communications units and repeater stations to allow for extremely long-range surveillance while at the same time handling rugged off-road and hostile environmental conditions. After a mere two months of operations, we are already in negotiations for significant orders,” says Kieser.

Commenting on the importance of this type of Africa-centric approach Sassda Executive Director John Tarboton comments;  “The use of stainless steel in this type of military application shows the strength, durability and hygiene benefits synonymous with this ‘noble’ metal. The fact that this project is Africa-based shows the potential of the local industry to add value across the continent and grow cross-border opportunities.”