Why have fighters in an air force?
Should SAAF be fighter capable?
Should the Gripens be soled off?
I'm asking these questions, as it is an issue in many so-called neutral countries. The Swiss are in this same discussion at this very moment. They are a truly neutral nation if ever there was one, yet they do have a small fighter force and are in the process of acquiring new ones. Most likely Gripens.
The Swedes are supposedly neutral, but has a big fighter force! Their force level is well above a hundred aircraft. The same can be said of Canada, Japan, Indonesia, Spain, Portugal, Brazil Chili and many others.
The point is that few of these nations have any immediate threads, with the possible exception of Japan. They are not in a standing conflict or have any international interests that might require their assistants, yet they choose to have a fighter force, why? Well, why do you have insurance? Why? We simply live in an uncertain world, as it was over the ages. Only now, things develop much faster, simply because of the pace of life. Whatever the status quo is today, you can be quite certain it won’t be the same in 10 years from now.
It is a means of deterrence without equal if one ignores nuclear capability. It is the only means of delivering a rapid response over long distances if you do not have cruise missiles. The fighter is the best defense against another fighter when covering a vast border like ours and it can deliver a mighty blow with high levels of precision to an enemy.
My opinion is that we should be fighter capable! Many nations around South Africa do have some form of a fighter force. Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique all operate some fighters. How well these are maintained and operated might be a bit questionable, but they do have them. One has to ask what your own strengths are and how you see yourselves in this scenario. Add to this our international aspirations, standing with-in Africa and the level of involvement within the UN, AU and SADC, and it is quite obvious to me that a fighter capability is a must. There should even be some cereous consideration for a more capable fighter if one consider what some of our neighbors have.. A SU30 is not something one can take on with a peashooter. (Sorry for that)
Therefore, seeing that this is a esencial, expensive, high technology and labor intensive system to acquire and maintain, there is no way that we can even consider selling off our fighter force. It will be like suicide in a political and real sense. It is simply not something to even be considered. In fact, I believe this under funding should be reversed with at most urgency! The lack of proper leadership and over all racist policies should be halted immediately. We are all citizens of this country and we should all have equal opportunity, equal treatment and an equal rite to defend this beautiful country of ours. My plea is for the goewrment to wake up or get out. South Africa and its people want to move on! Get it rite or leave!
http://www.saairforce.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6581
Should SAAF be fighter capable?
Should the Gripens be soled off?
I'm asking these questions, as it is an issue in many so-called neutral countries. The Swiss are in this same discussion at this very moment. They are a truly neutral nation if ever there was one, yet they do have a small fighter force and are in the process of acquiring new ones. Most likely Gripens.
The Swedes are supposedly neutral, but has a big fighter force! Their force level is well above a hundred aircraft. The same can be said of Canada, Japan, Indonesia, Spain, Portugal, Brazil Chili and many others.
The point is that few of these nations have any immediate threads, with the possible exception of Japan. They are not in a standing conflict or have any international interests that might require their assistants, yet they choose to have a fighter force, why? Well, why do you have insurance? Why? We simply live in an uncertain world, as it was over the ages. Only now, things develop much faster, simply because of the pace of life. Whatever the status quo is today, you can be quite certain it won’t be the same in 10 years from now.
It is a means of deterrence without equal if one ignores nuclear capability. It is the only means of delivering a rapid response over long distances if you do not have cruise missiles. The fighter is the best defense against another fighter when covering a vast border like ours and it can deliver a mighty blow with high levels of precision to an enemy.
My opinion is that we should be fighter capable! Many nations around South Africa do have some form of a fighter force. Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique all operate some fighters. How well these are maintained and operated might be a bit questionable, but they do have them. One has to ask what your own strengths are and how you see yourselves in this scenario. Add to this our international aspirations, standing with-in Africa and the level of involvement within the UN, AU and SADC, and it is quite obvious to me that a fighter capability is a must. There should even be some cereous consideration for a more capable fighter if one consider what some of our neighbors have.. A SU30 is not something one can take on with a peashooter. (Sorry for that)
Therefore, seeing that this is a esencial, expensive, high technology and labor intensive system to acquire and maintain, there is no way that we can even consider selling off our fighter force. It will be like suicide in a political and real sense. It is simply not something to even be considered. In fact, I believe this under funding should be reversed with at most urgency! The lack of proper leadership and over all racist policies should be halted immediately. We are all citizens of this country and we should all have equal opportunity, equal treatment and an equal rite to defend this beautiful country of ours. My plea is for the goewrment to wake up or get out. South Africa and its people want to move on! Get it rite or leave!
http://www.saairforce.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6581
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