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General Meiring,
vice Admiral Simpson-Anderson,
Major General Pienaar,
Mr Haywood,
Mr Grobbelaar,
Senior Officers and Warrant Officers, Honoured Guests
and Members of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen.

1. The Cape Naval Communications Centre was originally commissioned 24 years ago, in March 1973.

2. The system was intended to run for 15 years, and in 1987 a lifetime extension programme was implemented.

3. This extension kept the communications system running for the balance of the St. Commission.

4. The original project, known as Project ADVOKAAT, was managed by Commander (now retired) Mickey Warr, who I believe is present today.

5. During the original commission, the Cape Navcomcen was involved in many naval exercises and operations, including 11 transoceanic Naval Command of Shipping exercises with various South African countries.

6. The station also provided communication for yachts in the Cape to Rio and Cape to Punta del Este races and the Trans-globe Expedition by Sir Ranulph Fiennes when he crossed the South Pole in 1980.

7. The Cape Navcomcen has also provided the prime communications link between South Africa an SA Naval ships in visit to the USA, Taiwan, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and north of Scotland, as well as to ships circumnavigating Africa and South America.

8. It is estimated that a grand total of 567,926 signals were received and transmitted during the first commission from 1972 to 1994.

9. In 1989 a Naval Staff Target was raised for the updating and replacement of the SA Navy's communications system and command and control equipment. The staff requirement was approved in the first quarter of 1990 and in the following 18 months a projects study and acquisition plan were prepared and approved.

10. The main contract was awarded to the local company Grinaker Electronic Systems, know as GES, in December 1993.

11. Finances played their natural constraining role in the acquisition of equipment, resulting in use having to be made of transmitters no longer required by the army.

12. Most of the hardware acquired for the project is of local origin, with the receivers and a small portion of transmitters having been imported.

13. Most of the antennae were refurbished and upgraded.

14. In October 1994 the Cape Navcomcen was de-activated and the removal of obsolete equipment commenced.

15. At this time control of the SA Navy's Command and Control Communications infrastructure was passed to the naval satellite communications centre in Durban.

16. Durban's Navcomcen has successfully managed to meet most of the communications requirements, albeit with a restricted capability, until now.

17. Software problems these days seem to dominate the development of so many projects that depend upon computer technology.

18. This project was no exception, and the software development for the system you see here today took just over a year longer to produced than was originally anticipated.

19. This new system is capable of providing high frequency combinations to the SA Navy's ships and submarines where ever they may be deployed, using single sideboard voice, Morse code, radio automatic teletype and data transfer.

20. The system also provides communications to the Southern Air Force Command Post and the Maritime Co-ordination Centre for the vital task of search and rescue.

21. The South African Air Force used some of the equipment during the recent5 extended search operation of the coast of Namibia for the two aircraft which recently tragically collided in mid-air, resulting in considerable loss of life.

22. This new system will significantly increase the communication productivity of our Navy an Air Force, and it gives me great pleasure to unveil the plaque and declare Naval Communications Centre cape formally re-commissioned.

<EOD>