South Africa has deployed its troops into two wars without renewing a maintenance contract needed to keep its essential attack and transport helicopters flying.
A so-called fixed-cost contract between state arms maker Denel SOC Ltd and the South African Department of Defence — which covers the expenses of technicians and engineers — lapsed more than four months ago and has not been renewed, Denel said in a response to queries.
That jeopardizes the South African military’s ability to protect about 4,000 troops it is deploying to fight jihadists in Mozambique and rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) with its Oryx transport helicopters and Rooivalk, or Red Falcon, attack helicopters.
Photo: AFP
PEACEKEEPING
The contract lapse is evidence of how South Africa’s ambitions to bolster its influence on the continent with peacekeeping missions are not matched by a budget that is struggling to finance everything from its armed forces to port and power-plant overhauls.
“Air assets are absolutely critical in any counterinsurgency operation, particularly in this terrain,” said Piers Pigou, Southern Africa program head at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies. “We have put our hand up for something we aren’t able to deliver.”
While South Africa has sent troops into DR Congo as part of a Southern African Development Community mission since December, the 2,900-strong deployment was only announced on Monday last week in a press statement from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office.
The following day, he formally notified parliament with a note backdated to Dec. 21.
The troops in Mozambique were deployed in 2021 and are due to leave this year.
While Denel is supplying spares and materials through a so-called ad hoc contract with Armaments Corp of South Africa SOC Ltd— the Department of Defence’s procuring agency that is known as Armscor — talks over the fixed-cost contract that supports the helicopters with specialist equipment and skills have yet to be resolved, Denel Aeronautics chief executive Mike Kgobe said.
“The Oryx and Rooivalk are unique helicopters flown only by South Africa and require specialist skills and special equipment to sustain the capabilities,” Kgobe said in an e-mailed response to questions.
While Denel has done some work of that nature for the air force, it has not been paid, he said.
OBSOLETE
In October, South African Minister of Defense and Military Veterans Thandi Modise said only five of 39 Oryxes were functional and 2.5 billion rand (US$132 million) was needed to restore the fleet.
Three of 11 Rooivalk could fly “with restrictions,” and the helicopters’ avionics systems were obsolete, Modise said in a reply to a parliamentary question at the time, saying that 1 billion rand would be needed for the upgrades.
Of 97 other aircraft listed in the reply, only 17 were operational.
This month, a mortar attack killed two South African soldiers deployed in DR Congo, while an Oryx was peppered with small arms fire and its crew injured.
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