SANDF has no muscle because funds have been cut to the bone
Loading player...
The SA National Defence Force (SANDF) is in deep trouble and will require prompt and serious attention if SA is not to find itself without an effective military.
Some will argue that it would not matter, but we find ourselves in an unstable region in an era of great power competition and expanding military activity by non-state groups. That is not a time to be unable to monitor events or discourage hostile adventures. But the defence force is already limited in its ability to do either and will soon lose more capabilities.
The army lacks the infantry units to handle and sustain any serious contingency beyond its deployment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and along the border; has good but mostly obsolete equipment from 1980-1990 and some from the 1970s and even 1950s; and lacks key capabilities such as modern air defence systems.
The air force has the Gripen fighter but lacks key weapons for it. It has outstanding helicopters — the Rooivalk (too few, no precision weapons), Super Lynx (ditto) and Oryx (1990s vintage) — but lacks transport capacity (half a dozen 1963 C-130 Hercules, a few re-engined 1943 Dakotas and a few Casa 212 light transports from the 1980s). It lacks maritime surveillance capability (1943 Dakotas with only a weather radar and no optronic system) and does not have the radars to cover our air borders effectively.
The navy has four modern light frigates (but only one helicopter each) and three modern patrol submarines but lacks the funding to refit and upgrade them as planned. Its other ships are three former strike craft and one support ship (all from the 1980s), three minehunters (1970s) and some small craft. Four new ships are being built, a new survey ship (to replace the 1970s vintage SAS Protea) and three inshore patrol vessels that will be too small to be really useful.
Worse is that the defence force has not been allocated the funding to close the key capability gaps identified and approved in the Defence Review of 2015, such as air space monitoring and maritime surveillance and also lacks the funding to maintain the equipment it does have. For instance, only one frigate and one submarine have been refitted, and then only the ship systems not the combat systems. Worse still, the defence force lacks the funding to allow pilots to fly enough, its ships to go ...
Some will argue that it would not matter, but we find ourselves in an unstable region in an era of great power competition and expanding military activity by non-state groups. That is not a time to be unable to monitor events or discourage hostile adventures. But the defence force is already limited in its ability to do either and will soon lose more capabilities.
The army lacks the infantry units to handle and sustain any serious contingency beyond its deployment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and along the border; has good but mostly obsolete equipment from 1980-1990 and some from the 1970s and even 1950s; and lacks key capabilities such as modern air defence systems.
The air force has the Gripen fighter but lacks key weapons for it. It has outstanding helicopters — the Rooivalk (too few, no precision weapons), Super Lynx (ditto) and Oryx (1990s vintage) — but lacks transport capacity (half a dozen 1963 C-130 Hercules, a few re-engined 1943 Dakotas and a few Casa 212 light transports from the 1980s). It lacks maritime surveillance capability (1943 Dakotas with only a weather radar and no optronic system) and does not have the radars to cover our air borders effectively.
The navy has four modern light frigates (but only one helicopter each) and three modern patrol submarines but lacks the funding to refit and upgrade them as planned. Its other ships are three former strike craft and one support ship (all from the 1980s), three minehunters (1970s) and some small craft. Four new ships are being built, a new survey ship (to replace the 1970s vintage SAS Protea) and three inshore patrol vessels that will be too small to be really useful.
Worse is that the defence force has not been allocated the funding to close the key capability gaps identified and approved in the Defence Review of 2015, such as air space monitoring and maritime surveillance and also lacks the funding to maintain the equipment it does have. For instance, only one frigate and one submarine have been refitted, and then only the ship systems not the combat systems. Worse still, the defence force lacks the funding to allow pilots to fly enough, its ships to go ...