Department of defence selling old hardware
Date: 4 August 2008
Fancy your own Boeing 707? The South African defence department have a couple to spare, no doubt going cheap.
Perhaps you'd like 17 demilitarised but now outdated Alouette helicopters? Or even 12 Cheetah fighter planes; there are also seven extra Cheetah engines around needing homes.
Five mark one Impala jet trainers are up for grabs, or would a Daphne class submarine suit you, sir. It was old when the apartheid government bought it from France so now it is positively venerable.
But it's there and Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota would like to get it off his hands, and admits he has no specific customer in mind for it yet.
Lekota unveiled his "for sale" list in a written answer to a parliamentary question from Rafik Syed-ali Shah, the Democratic Alliance defence spokesman.
He also said that there was no specific potential customer as yet for the Boeings, and a price had yet to be negotiated. For the Cheetahs (which are upgraded Mirage FI fighters) however the French are interested and so are Peru, Chile and Venezuela.
An international open tender is planned for the helicopters, and the Impala have caught the eye of Aerosud, which despite its French-sounding name is a South African company.
They want to use them for training purposes in Africa. The price again is still to be negotiated.
If you want guns, you'll be out of luck. The department won't sell any. They have to be - as the minister puts it - 'destructed'. But the ammunition is fine (unless its small calibre - which is also 'destructed').
Above 20mm ammo is available to the local industry for rework and resale. Above 90mm, and the French want in on the act. They might have to vie with Denel's Naschem, which is also expressing interest.
Naschem is also thinking about acquiring some aircraft bombs, so beware of crossing them.
Army trucks, jeeps or cars vehicles are also available, but no details are given in Lekota's answer. Just "various vehicles".
Source: Business Times
