The South African Air Force Stumbles to a Halt Although it is the second oldest Air Force in the world, the South Africa Air force has hit the skids. The following report from James Dunnigan: ‘Four months after admitting that 12 of its 26 Gripen jet fighters had been placed in storage because they were too expensive to operate and there were not enough qualified pilots to fly them, South African officials admitted that the maintenance contracts for all the Gripens had expired in April. That made long term use of the Gripens dangerous. This contract was with a reliable, and expensive, South African firm (Denel). The maintenance contracts pay for ongoing support for the aircraft to include updates and warnings on problems other users have encountered, as well as access to manufacturer engineers and maintenance experts. Aircraft become more dangerous to operate (if they operate at all) without regular maintenance and these maintenance contracts are a critical part of that. Some South African politicians are now calling for the Gripens to be sold, as there is not likely to be sufficient money to operate them and retain qualified pilots. Currently, only about half of the remaining 14 Gripens are flyable and there are only six qualified Gripen pilots. Corruption, shrinking defense budgets, and political pressure to find more black combat pilots and technical personnel has led to the South African Air Force having fewer operational aircraft. All this has been going on for over a decade.’ The thing is, when it comes to racial quotas and flying…. You can’t politically influence gravity…
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 18:47:04 +0000
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