1.2 During the orientation briefing the Committee was informed that while it was confident that, as envisaged, Armscor could meet its defence technology, research and development; as well as test and evaluation requirements of the Department of Defence in an efficient, effective and economical manner, key challenges remain. In order to meet its mandate and deliver services required by the State, sufficient funding and appropriately skilled personnel are needed. Improved methods to guard the intellectual property of domestically developed products and systems, through amongst others, providing strategic guidance to Denel and the local defence industry as well as indentifying strategic research and development activities, are also required. In this way, South Africa's strategic capabilities are not only maintained but safeguarded, and the domestic defence industry, becomes commercially competitive, through, in particular, the exploitation of dual-use technologies.