Should SAAF be fighter capable (Gripens)

Alan said:
Yes they have. A few Japanese fire balloons were shot down.....
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of course..

Australians might launch fire balloons at SA too. Hopefully the SA Grippen pilots are up to speed by then.
 
zippy said:
nobody is interested in SA. With or without oil.
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A resource rich country on the Southern tip of Africa that has de facto controll of a major shipping route? We need patrol planes, transports and light attack planes before fighters. Drones too - but drones can't dodge.
But we need a small complement of fighters nontheless. Think of it as insurance.
As our troops proved in Bangui - we are not at our peak, but anyone picking a fight with SA will not have a easy time of it.

At least 6 extra Rooivalk - then we have something that is operational deployable. 8 JX Hercules, a refit and zero-life on our fleet of 9 BZ's for use as patrol planes in the Sea Hercules configuration.
We won't go for another option for the simple reason that the US dept of Defence won't pay us to fly them then. US military aid supports SAAF C-130s
If need be - we can get good deals on A400M's - a lot of operators are cutting their orders. (Spain is selling half of theirs, probably envying our cancellation)

10 or so C295 light transports from Airbus - maybe 2 of them configured for AWACS. Problem with light transport is the same as the US Airforce discovered with the Spartan - their maintenance cost sometimes does not merit their use over a larger plane.

4 Airbus A330's configured as Multi Role Tanker Transports - could get a local company to do two VIP kits for them and do the MRTT conversion - same thing Quantas Aerospace did.
At least one squadron of light attack planes - maybe the Pilatus to enable quick handover from training - or the Super Tucano.
A light utility helicopter to replace those souped up commercial jobs we bought from Augusta Westland - but seems the Oryx is handling the load well.

But no more fighter planes. We need a few as insurance, but they will probably be in stored rotation for a few years more.
 
An army is nothing without it's air force. And attack helicopters cannot serve in all situations.

There might not be an immediate threat, but you can't get rid of your army/air force just because everything's hunky dory at the moment.
 
daveza said:
For what ?

If Britain or the USA picked a fight with us the fighters would last about 10 seconds.
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Once again - the same could be said of the rest of the world. Think of it as the cheap version of the ICBM - we need them because anyone that could cause us harm also has them. Its a ****ty argument, but its the truth.

"If you want peace, prepare for war"
 
daveza said:
So what do we need fighters for ?

We have a black government in black Africa so nobody is going to invade or attack us.
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And black government's don't like war? :erm:

daveza said:
Since the end of WW2 we have spent many fortunes on planes, ships, subs etc - when apart from a skirmish or two in Angola they have not been used for purpose ever.
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Border war?

If Nigeria or Angola get uppity we need to pretend we have a means of defense. :p
 
thestaggy said:
Small, well-equipped and well-trained, that is what we should aim for in all branches (air, navy and army) and that does include a multi-role fighter. A drone program could also be beneficial in securing our borders.
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An anti-drone system would also be important to ward of potential bully states/unauthorized states from taking action within our borders.

But yes I am all for a small specialized extremely well trained fighter force.We don't have nukes anymore but we still need good deterrents for the future and to prevent us from being dragged into future world wars as was the case with the Cubans invading/occupying Angola and threatening to head South towards us.
 
daveza said:
Any in South Africa since 1945 ?
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You were prolly born after 1965...

A huge number of us had to fight in a war that had nothing to do with us, and yes there were aircraft involved...
 
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BigAl-sa said:
Were you involved in any of those skirmishes?

BTW, I missed where you mentioned those skirmishes...
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Since the end of WW2 we have spent many fortunes on planes, ships, subs etc - when apart from a skirmish or two in Angola they have not been used for purpose ever.
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No, I wasn't iewers op die grens, I was a medic fixing them up.
 
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