Zimbabwe's intervention in the Mozambican Civil War, which culminated in the deployment of 1,000 troops into Tete Province towards the end of 1982, finally provided the impetuous for the establishment of ZDI. A state parastatal which could procure arms in a direct manner while circumventing the army's cumbersome tender process was perceived as necessary for the war effort. Colonel Ian Stansfield, former Quartermaster-General and chief of the ZNA's Procurement Office, was appointed to lead the new effort. Stansfield aimed to build on the once-vibrant defence industry generated by the Rhodesian Bush War. He thus contracted with the separate firms that had once manufactured armoured vehicles, munitions, and small arms during that conflict and offered them an inroad into the export market under the auspices of a united Zimbabwe Defence Industries.