Protechnik was a front company established on 24 June 1987 by the South African Defence Force

South African Defence Force

The South African Defence Force was the South African armed forces from 1957 until 1994. The former Union Defence Force was renamed to the South African Defence Force in the Defence Act of 1957...

 to perform quality assurance testing of chemical protective materials and equipment within a covert operation known as Project Coast

Project Coast

Project Coast was a top-secret chemical and biological weapons program instituted by the South African government during the apartheid era. Project Coast was the successor to a limited post-war CBW program which mainly produced the lethal agents CX powder and mustard gas; as well as non-lethal...

http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/SAfrica/Biological/2432_3538.html.

Founded by Dr. Jan Lourens, a bio-engineering consultant at Roodeplaat Research Laboratories

Roodeplaat Research Laboratories

Roodeplaat Research Laboratories was a front company established in 1983 by the South African Defence Force to research, test and produce biological weapons within a covert operation known as Project Coast....

, as Systems Research and Development (SRD), with funding provided by the Medical arm of the SADF. Protechnik's shareholders would include Medchem Consolidated Investments (MCI), WPW Investments (a firm belonging to Wouter Basson

Wouter Basson

Wouter Basson is a South African cardiologist and former head of the country's secret chemical and biological warfare project, Project Coast, during the apartheid era. Nicknamed "Dr...

) the Luxembourg-based Charburn Enterprises. According to testimony provided in the Wouter Basson trial, Protechnik was involved in reverse engineering Chemical Agent Monitorshttp://ccrweb.ccr.uct.ac.za/archive/cbw/28.html.

The company is now a subsidiary of Denel

Denel

Denel Ltd is a South African state owned aerospace and defence technology conglomerate established in 1991. It was created when the manufacturing subsidiaries of Armscor were split off in order for Armscor to become the procurement agency for South African Defence Force , now known as the South...

.

Other SADF front organizations

• Badger Arms
• Biocon (South Africa)
• Civil Cooperation Bureau
  Civil Cooperation Bureau
  The South African Civil Cooperation Bureau was a government-sponsored hit squad during the apartheid era that operated under the authority of Defence Minister General Magnus Malan...
  
  
• Delta G Scientific Company
  Delta G Scientific Company
  Delta G Scientific Company was originally a front company established April 1982 in Weldegraan by the South African Defence Force to research and produce chemical weapons within a covert operation known as Project Coast....
  
  
• Electronic Magnetic Logistical Component
• Executive Outcomes
  Executive Outcomes
  Executive Outcomes was a private military company founded in South Africa by former Lieutenant-Colonel of the South African Defence Force Eeben Barlow in 1989. It later became part of the South African-based holding company Strategic Resource Corporation....
  
  
• Geo International Trading
• Infladel
• Jeugkrag
  Jeugkrag
  Jeugkrag was a short-lived South African youth group, surreptitiously funded by the apartheid government's department of Military Intelligence in an operation known as Project Essay...
  
  
• Lema
  Lema
  Lema was a 'blue plan' front-company of the Civil Cooperation Bureau established in Johannesburg with offices in Parktown by ex-policeman Leon André Maree. The company's name was derived from the first two letters of its founder's name and surname...
  
  
• Military Technical Services
• Roodeplaat Research Laboratories
  Roodeplaat Research Laboratories
  Roodeplaat Research Laboratories was a front company established in 1983 by the South African Defence Force to research, test and produce biological weapons within a covert operation known as Project Coast....
  
  
• Veterans for Victory