Underfunded Air Force Battles to Get Full Value From New Craft

Wyndham Hartley

In the most dire warning yet, the chief of the South African Air Force, Lt-Gen Carlo Gagiano, has said almost all the main air force systems are in decline as far as conducting and sustaining operations are concerned.

He said the force's decline was related directly to "extraordinary levels of underfunding" and that it would not be possible to use the expensive Hawk jet trainers and Gripen jet fighters bought for billions in the strategic defence packages at their optimum level.

A massive exodus of skilled personnel from the air force was contributing to the decline of the air systems.

Gagiano took a swipe at employment equity in the defence force, saying a lack of career prospects had contributed to the high number of people leaving the air force.

Gagiano, reporting on the state of the air force in the defence department's annual report, said there had been computer problems with the newly arrived Hawk trainers but "the overriding concern in the fighter line", however, remained underfunding, which forced the air force to operate its fighter fleet at suboptimal levels.

Present indications were that the underfunding of the operating budget would force the combat system group to operate the aircraft of the strategic defence packages at levels "far below their optimum level of utilisation".

He said the decline in the ability of the air force to conduct conventional operations was "exacerbated by a massive loss of specialised technical expertise during the reporting year (2005-06)". More than 240 highly skilled aircraft technicians had resigned last year, limiting the ability of the air systems to conduct and sustain extended air operations.

Gagiano warned that the situation in the air force could affect SAs ability to provide support for the country's peacekeeping missions on behalf of the African Union in various trouble spots on the continent.

He stressed also that operations in support of peacekeeping were "funded at the cost of other, longer-term needs, such as air base maintenance, aircraft spares purchases, vehicle renewal and infrastructure maintenance".

More than 1 700 hours were flown in support of the deployments in the Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.

"All operating risks experienced during the year are associated in one way or another with the considerable levels of underfunding of the operating budget. In some cases, such as the loss of technical expertise, underfunding was not the sole source of the problem.

"Factors such as the enormous disparities between salaries paid in the air force and those paid in the private sector, a lack of career prospects and inadequate career management contributed significantly to the high resignation rate."

Gagiano said the solution to the deterioration of the main air systems was "almost entirely dependent on the availability of funds and, without at least minimum levels of funding, few, if any, options are available to arrest the continuing decline".

Business Day