Subordinate to: Denel (Pty)

Primary function: Rocket motor propellant casting pits

Description: Somchem was a converted factory used for the production of propellants, explosives, rocket-propellant systems, and rockets. The rocket motor propellant casting pits at the Somchen production facility were destroyed in 1993 by cutting out steel components and sealing the pits with concrete.

Key sources:
Permanent Mission of South Africa to the United Nations, "Space Industry in South Africa," 30 June 1993; "South Africa Abandons Independent Program," Reuters, 30 June 1993; "South Africa to abandon missile launching programme," Agence France Presse, 30 June 1993, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe>; Encyclopedia Astronautica, "Overberg,"
<http://www.astronautix.com/sites/overberg.htm>; "Pretoria Gives Up Nukes and Missiles," Risk Report, January 1996, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe>; Fred Bridgland, "S Africa Scraps Missile Plan After US Pressure," Daily Telegraph, 1 July 1993, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe>.

	Updated May 2003