Just two of the 11 Rooivalk attack helicopters in service ‘are currently operable’, MPs have been told.
Kobus Marais, a DA member of Parliament’s joint standing committee on defence, said: ‘The majority of these aircraft are at Denel and cannot be operated. We cannot protect South Africa if we cannot have those assets operating in the air, in the sea and on land.’
News24 reports that Marais also told the committee that only six of the Air Force’s 36 Oryx helicopters in service with the SANDF were serviceable and operational. Last year, he said, 17 Oryx helicopters were operational.
The committee was also told by SANDF chief of staff, General Michael Mantswana that Denel, the state-owned arms manufacturer whose primary mission is to supply arms to the country’s armed forces, has only been able to satisfactorily meet 53% of the prime mission equipment orders from the SANDF.
According to News24, the committee was told that of the 104 active contracts and orders for equipment totalling R21.9 billion, Denel has fully delivered on 45 orders and received R11.7 billion in payments for the operational and capital equipment.
More than R10 billion in orders is still outstanding. These are mainly orders for maintenance and support as well as for spares for the military hardware the SANDF relies on for its operations.
Mantswana said most of the prime mission equipment in service with the SANDF, of which Denel is the original equipment manufacturer, remains unserviceable and negatively impacts on the SANDF readiness. This has rendered most of the equipment unusable, particularly aircraft that are required for combat and to support troops.
[Image: BoonDock, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38402967]