Africa Aerospace and Defence

“People still think of us as a company that makes tents and shelters,” says Martin Bester, Director of Business Development at Canvas and Tent Group. “We actually go way beyond that to design and deliver the whole operating environment, so a client can arrive at a remote site and have everything they need to house, feed and support their people from day one.”

The company’s presence at AAD 2026 will centre on this capability. BUSHTEC will demonstrate its ability to develop hybrid infrastructure that combines traditional construction methods with modern expeditionary technologies, allowing each solution to be matched to the operational, environmental, logistical and budgetary needs of a specific project, says Bester.

According to Bester, the flexibility of the model is what makes it relevant across such different sectors. “A defence force setting up a forward base, a mining company opening a site in a difficult location, a disaster response team that needs a clinic running in days — the underlying requirements are more similar than people assume. You need shelter, water, power, sanitation, food and a way to keep it all working. That’s the problem we solve, and we solve it as one system rather than a collection of parts.”

The direction on display at AAD 2026 aligns closely with priorities raised at the recent South African Defence Industry Lekgotla, where discussion focused on innovation, localisation, sustainability, integrated capability development and improved support to operational readiness. BUSHTEC views these themes as consistent with the development work already underway within the business.

That work reflects a wider ambition to be judged on complete capability rather than standalone products. BUSHTEC ‘s integrated systems bring together engineering, modular design, utilities integration, logistics support and sustainability principles into a single offering, with the aim of reducing the logistical burden that clients carry when they coordinate multiple suppliers in remote or austere conditions.

The scalability of the approach is central to its appeal. BUSHTEC designs for requirements ranging from small field camps through to large operational bases, and its redeployable systems are built to remain in place for extended periods and then relocate when operational needs change. This suits clients who need infrastructure that performs over the life of a project rather than only at the point of installation.

“Integration is the part that gets underestimated,” Bester says. “Anyone can drop equipment on a site. The value is in making sure the power talks to the water, the kitchen supports the accommodation, and the whole camp keeps running once the crowd arrives and the pressure is on. That only comes from having done it, repeatedly, in places where there’s no second chance to get it right.”

BUSHTEC ‘s work spans defence, security, humanitarian, disaster management, mining and government sectors, with delivery experience across Africa and the Middle East. The company positions AAD 2026 as an opportunity to show defence stakeholders and commercial clients
how that experience now translates into integrated operational support systems rather than individual structures.

Visitors to the BUSHTEC stand at AAD 2026 will be able to review the company’s new developments and discuss project-specific requirements with its team.