Without a doubt the most representative design of South Africa's nascent helicopter industry is the Denel AH-2 Rooivalk (Red Kestrel), a surprisingly advanced gunship with tremendous capabilities and potential. It was originally designed out of the need for an escort and close air support helicopter to patrol South Africa's hostile borders during the 1980s, a situation that rapidly changed for the better the following decade and almost led to the cancellation of the project. Nevertheless a number of Rooivalks have since been constructed and serve as attack gunships following the now conventional design of a tandem stepped cockpit, narrow fuselage, and weapons carried on wing stubs for both air-to-ground and air-to-air missions. They are also built extensively with composite materials and are capable of day and night all-weather operations under harsh environmental conditions (often in remote locations) requiring minimal maintenance. No export orders have yet been finalized although a joint marketing project with Eurocopter has recently been signed.

The XH-2 prototype first flew on 11 February 1990 and was based on the Atlas XH-1 Alpha test-bed which itself was based on the Alouette III airframe. Another such design was the XTP-1 Beta adapted from the Puma airframe and the experience from both developments eventually led to the AH-2 (designated earlier as the CHS-2), a completely new design with little superficial resemblance to its predecessors. Production versions are designated AH-2A and are currently the only variant in operation although a navalized version with chin-mounted radar and anti-ship missiles was conceived in the late 1980s but has not been developed.