₦airaland Forum

Denel Dynamics, a UAV and missiles supplier to the South African military, has declared the latest iteration of its Mokopa guided missile ready for use. The Mokopa is a small precision guided weapon with a range of 10 km+. It was initially developed as a helicopter-mounted anti-tank weapon but how now been certified for deployment from land and fixed-wing aircraft.

The missile system is modular, and allows a choice of penetration, fragmentation or anti-armour warheads, depending on its theatre of use. A multiple warhead configuration is also possible. Cheaper - and more importantly lighter - than comparable Sea Skua or Hellfire ground attack missiles, the feasibility of deploying the missile from lightweight Lynx helicopters is being studied.

The company commented that “it seems to us most of our Lynx customers have a requirement for an affordable precision weapon to take on non-traditional threats - for example, the pirate threat.” Although South Africa currently has no ships contributing to the Indian Ocean Task Force 150 anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia, piracy is still a problem in the waters off the Cape of Good Hope.

The flexibility of the missile system is expected to be its main selling point, with the producer commenting that “The Mokopa should be particularly effective with a multi-purpose warhead in support of offshore patrol vessels, such as those contemplated for the SA Navy’s Project Biro. The weapon is also suitable as a secondary PGM for larger vessels, such as frigates”.

The system has been in development since 1996, and came about as a result of a US arms embargo creating demand for a domestically developed guided weapon. The system is expected to enter service once testing on further land and air platforms is completed.

I may not be familiar with Nigerian capabilities in terms of armaments, technological know how, military industrial capabilities, products, training, special forces capabilities, airforce combat readiness, intelligence and naval prowerness. Least we engaged in an unproductive discussion. Lets put patriotic and nationalist feelings aside as it diluted the debate.

Rules of engagement should be based on verifiable facts, photos and expert opinions......LET THE GAME BEGINS

The above information is not secret its the display of technological know how. Why hide information that can dispel misinformation and disinformation. If you market what you have then the world would know and come to buy the product.....why hide whats not there

The Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has developed a system for loading more boats onto ships, which it says will help the South African Navy (SAN) more effectively fight piracy.

The CSIR said its maritime security team came up with a removable davit system that fits onto a shipping container footprint mounted and adapted on the ship’s deck, after conducting research into controlled surface deployment of boats from moving ships. The system was put through stringent sea trials along the Cape Peninsula with various boats of differing design from the Maritime Reaction Squadron, South African Special Forces as well as the South African Navy.

“The davit system can accommodate boats of various hull shapes weighing up to 5 tonnes. The system comprises a wave compensating hydraulic davit system mounted on a load vector compensating base. The base also houses the drive system with local and remote controls, stored energy for a full deployment and recovery operation, as well as the logistic support equipment needed for the boat. Boats, as well as crew, can be lowered and retrieved safely by the davit system while the ship is underway. Two of these davit systems are normally fitted to a ship, with another two boats housed in the ships boat bay on CSIR-developed cradle systems,” the Centre said.

The CSIR added that, during the development phase and sea trials, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) needed to respond to an actual piracy threat on the east coast of Africa. With the pilot model installed, the SAN had their first success with the CSIR’s new system – despite it still being a demonstrator version.

“With such technology as building blocks to a highly mobile, integrated maritime capability, the SA Navy is in a stronger position to counter maritime threats, protect maritime assets (including natural resources), as well as economic sea-lines of communication, against multi-national crime syndicates,” the CSIR noted. “It is also better equipped to safeguard the integrity of territorial waters along the South African – and broader African – coasts.”

Besides supporting integrated naval operations on the east coast of Africa, the CSIR-developed capability has also allowed the South African Navy to conduct extended operations up the west coast of Africa, ensuring that the SANDF’s mandated responsibilities within the SADC and African Union security environments are met, the Centre said in its July newsletter.

It went on to state that more systems were subsequently developed to outfit navy frigates, as well as the combat support vessel SAS Drakensburg, for missions on a rotation basis. “This allowed the SA Navy to integrate its warship capability with various specialised elements within the SANDF to create an extended off board capability. This capability includes visit, board, search and seizure, interdiction, insertion and recovery over beaches, as well as augmenting search and rescue capabilities.”

Apparently, the development of the removable davit system has resulted in technology packages that have attracted international attention. “The system also potentially offers good business opportunities for small and medium enterprise (SME) organisations to support the manufacturing processes involved, stimulating the engineering environment supporting ship building and support within South Africa,” the CSIR concluded.

South Africa is currently undertaking anti-piracy patrols off its east coast and in the Mozambique Channel as part of Operation Copper. Anti-piracy patrols are usually conducted by the SA Navy’s four frigates (SAS Amatola, SAS Mendi, SAS Spioenkop and SAS Isandlwana). The latest patrols have generally been of three months duration.

On April 18 the South African Navy’s supply ship SAS Drakensberg (which had taken over from the frigates due to their scheduled maintenance cycles) assisted in the capture of seven Somali pirates in the Mozambique Channel in the Navy’s first hands-on experience with pirates since it began patrolling off the east coast.

The South African Navy was one of four countries to pursue a pirate mother ship in the Mozambique Channel after it had unsuccessfully attacked a Filipino merchant ship, and helped herd the vessel towards the Spanish warship Infanta Elena, which captured the pirates and rescued six fishermen being held on board.

The South African Air Force is preparing to conduct an airspace security exercise in order to run through doctrine regarding airspace security and border patrolling. The annual airforce force preparation exercise, named Exercise Winter Solstice, is conducted to verify their combat readiness.

The exercise is taking place over the period 26 July to 4 August 2012. The area covered by this years’ exercise includes large parts of the North West Province, from the South African/Botswana border down to Orkney, along the Vaal River to Douglas in the Northern Cape and then up back up to the Botswana border.

Last year, Exercise Winter Solstice was conducted in the Eastern Cape during extreme winter conditions when over 500 SAAF personnel were deployed in the Bhisho area in the Eastern Cape. Then, the exercise consisted of Blue and Red forces war gaming a real-time scenario in order to evaluate the SAAF’s operational capabilities and combat readiness.

The objectives then were as follows:
· To evaluate the SAAF's deployability
· To enhance and evaluate the SAAF'S comprehensive defence operational capabilities
· To develop a common understanding of military interoperability and foster mutual trust, respect and co-operation in the SAAF.
· To evaluate and upgrade operational readiness, means and methods.
· To evaluate co-operation and networking between stakeholders and civil aviation authorities and partners like ATNS, ACSA and the General Aviation.

It is anticipated that this year’ objectives will be similar, but the actual tactics and scenarios will differ so as to concentrate on airspace security and border patrolling.

It is expected that a large number of aircraft will be deployed to surrounding airfields, including Gripen and Hawk jets, Cessna Caravans, Agusta A109, Oryx and Rooivalk helicopters. Other systems could include Tactical Mobile Radars, Mobile Ground Signal Intelligence Systems and communication equipment.

South African company EWI2 has partnered with the China North Industries Group Corporation (Norinco) to produce the 8M wheeled mine resistant, ambush protected vehicle.

The 8M was unveiled at the China International Exhibition on Police Technologies and Equipment Expo (CIEPE) in Beijing at the beginning of last month.

The vehicle is powered by a 5.9 litre Cummins QSB diesel, manufactured in China by the Dongfeng Cummins Engine Co joint venture. The engine produces 281 hp, giving the 8 000 kg vehicle a top speed of 120 km/h.The 8M has seating for eight people or a payload of 2 500 kg. It can withstand a 7 kg mine blast under the hull and a 10 kg mine blast on any wheel.

EWI2 said that the 8M is the first success in a series of collaborative projects to be completed over the coming years by EWI2 and Norinco after the two companies established a cooperation agreement in 2010. “EWI2 is proud to be associated with Norinco and was one of the first South African companies to establish themselves in China in support of South Africa’s membership of the BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India and China] nations,” EWI2 said in a statement.

EWI2 said it had designed the 8M and adapted it to utilise local Chinese components, which “has resulted in a world class product from state of the art industrial facilities and with world wide product support capability.” The 8M will be marketed in China as well as to export markets.

EWI2 was established in 2008 as a company that specializes in implementing industrial ventures in the emerging world. The company says it primarily uses its own intellectual property with joint venture partners “to the benefit of both parties and countries involved”.

South African companies are becoming increasingly involved in the Chinese defence market. In July 2010 Emerging World Technologies (EWT) sold 31 multipurpose security vehicles to China’s Jixi municipal government for R72 million. EWT partnered with the state-owned China Special Automotive Group (CSAG) and was scheduled to supply 150 modular all-terrain system (MATS) vehicles to the Chinese company. The deal also included skills transfer.

In November 2010 Mobile Land Systems announced it had a R40 million contract to manufacture eleven mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles in conjunction with China’s Changan Industries. The deal included technology transfer. Changan was scheduled to take over manufacture and was licensed to build 289 more vehicles, with intellectual property being handed over to Changan for a fee.

Dewald Hattingh, the CE of Mobile Land Systems at the time, said that China may need as many as 10 000 MRAP vehicles to cover their internal needs and equip peacekeeping missions. The PLA is the largest military in the world mustering some three million soldiers, sailors and airmen, of whom some 2.5 million are in full-time service. It is said to operate over 8500 main battle tanks but just over 1000 infantry combat vehicles and 3500 armoured personnel carrier of various designs – and none are mine protected.

EXCELLENT FOR NIGERIA NAVY AND THE COUNTRY

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has commissioned the NNS Andoni, Nigeria’s first locally built warship, and laid the keel for a second Seaward Defence Boat, which will be commissioned next year.

The commissioning ceremony was held at the Nigerian Naval Dockyard in Lagos on Friday and formed part of the week-long 56th anniversary celebrations of the navy. Jonathan said that the locally built vessel was a sign of the improvement of Nigeria’s armed forces. “This is the beginning of transformation and I believe that in another 10-15 years, we will be thinking of starting a project of taking Nigeria to the air. We have just started and we will continue,” he said.

“With the current repositioning of the country…already, a number of things are now being fabricated locally. I was in Lagos recently to inaugurate one of such; equipment for drilling and marine are currently being built locally. This is the beginning of transformation. There cannot be transformation without a technological revolution in the nation; this is the beginning.”

Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Ola Ibrahim, said the construction of the NNS Andoni (P100) was a landmark event for the Nigerian Navy and a contribution to Jonathan’s transformation agenda. “It is a testimony to our commitment to local content regime. We will not disappointment the nation,” he was quoted by Nigeria’s Punch as saying.

Ibrahim added that the vessel was built to International Maritime Organisation (IMO) standards and would be used to enhance security on Nigeria’s waterways.

The governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, said that the NNS Andoni was a sign that the Nigerian Navy was improving is operational readiness and becoming more professional, reports Nigeria’s Vanguard.

The 31 metre long Seaward Defence Boat had its keel laid at the Naval Dockyard in December 2007, with full construction beginning in January the following year, according to Nigerian media. Between January 2008 and April 2009 the superstructure and shell were completed, but construction was delayed due to funding issues until Ibrahim approved extra funding. It appears the NNS Andoni is armed with a 20 mm cannon, possibly the Suncraft Ralco.

The vessel was conceived as a research and development project by Vice Admiral GTA Adekeye and Rear Admiral GJ Jonah, who were at the time Chief of Naval Staff and Chief of Naval Engineering respectively.

Jonathan also laid the keel of another Seaward Defence Boat, which will be commissioned in the next 18 months, according to Ibrahim. The Nigerian Navy is expected to receive nearly two dozen new acquisitions under this year’s defence budget.

Jonathan recently approved the purchase of two new 1 800 t Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) for the Nigerian Navy, which will use them mainly for maritime surveillance, patrol and response tasks. Other roles of the vessels would be protection of offshore assets, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) patrol and surveillance, search and rescue and oil spill control.

The contract for the two OPVs was signed on April 18 this year, with China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Limited, the trade arm of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC). The first will be built in China while around 70% of the second one will be built in Nigeria in order to enhance local capability through technology transfer. They will be delivered in around three years time.

The OPVs will be 95 metres long, with a draft of 3.5 metres. They will be powered by two MTU 20V 4000M diesel engines, giving a speed of 21 knots per hour, and will be armed with one 76 mm and two 30 mm guns. Crew complement will be 70 sailors and endurance 20 days. They will be able to carry and support a helicopter off a rear deck.

The 2012 Defence Budget Proposal makes provision for three Shaldag Mk III fast patrol craft, three 24 metre coastal patrol craft and six 17 metre Manta Mk II ASD littoral interceptors (total cost N2.2 billion/US$13.7 million). In addition, the purchase of helicopter and ship spares will amount to N1.04 billion (US$6.5 million), according to Budget Office documents.

The FY2011 defence budget approved the acquisition of two offshore patrol vessels, the refurbishment of six coastal patrol craft by TP Marine and the delivery of nine Manta Mk II ASD craft.

French shipbuilder OCEA is building the three 24 metre coastal patrol craft and commenced sea trials of the first vessel on March 13. Delivery is expected this month.

The Suncraft Group is expected to construct the six Manta Mk II ASD vessels, bringing the total ordered over the last several years to 21. The Manta Mk II first entered service with the Nigerian Navy in 2008.

Nigeria’s Navy is seeking government approval to acquire up to 49 ships and 42 helicopters over the next ten years to police the nation’s territorial waterways and Gulf of Guinea, according to Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ishaya Ibrahim.

The Nigerian Navy has been allocated N69 billion (US$433 million) under this year’s budget while the Army has been allocated N122 billion (US$766 million), and the Air Force N64 billion (US$402 million), reports the Nigerian Budget Office. The navy has about 7 000 personnel.

Achievements by the South African government since 1994 under a black government

Fast Facts & Quick Stats About South Africa

Political

According to the Open Budget Index 2010, South Africa has the most transparent budget in the world. (International Budget Partnership)

South Africa is the only African country that is a member of the G20.

South Africa ranks 5th overall on the 2011 Ibrahim Index which measures the quality of African governance, Mauritius, Cape Verde, Botswana and Seychelles took the first four places out of 53 (Mo Ibrahim Foundation)

South Africa ranks 28th out of 167 countries surveyed in the 2011 Democracy Index, compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, ahead of France, Italy, Greece and all of the other BRICS countries. WorldAudit.org ranks South Africa as the 43rd most democratic country in 2011.

In the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Survey of Democratic Freedom, South Africa ranks 31st out of 184 countries.
According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2010/11, South Africa has the 34th most efficient government out of the 139 countries ranked.

WorldAudit.org ranks South Africa as the 47th least corrupt nation out of 150 nations surveyed in 2011, ahead of Italy, Greece and all the other BRICS nations. Transparency International ranks South Africa 64th out of 150 countries in its corruption perception index 2011.

South Africa ranks as the 61st strongest state out of 177 countries in the Fund for Peace's Failed State Index 2011. The index measures state vulnerability based on 12 social, economic, political and military indicators.
In terms of the Global Competitiveness Report 2012, South Africa’s biggest improvements over the past year have been Reliability of police services (we moved from 104 to 95); Brain drain (we moved from 62 to 48); Intensity of local competition (we moved from 63 to 49), Availability of latest technologies (we moved from 51 to 39 and Gross national savings as a % of GDP (we moved from 98 to 72).

"Personal satisfaction" with the country's democracy rose from 49% in 2008 to 60% in 2011, according to the continent wide Afrobarometer research group.

Economic

In 2012, at 5.5%, South African interest rates were at a 30-year low.

South African Tax Revenue has increased from R100 billion in 1994 to R742.7 billion in 2011-12.

South Africa’s debt to GDP ratio is 32% (USA 100%, Japan 200%, UK 90%). The World Bank recommends a ratio of 60%.

SA ranks 1st among upper middle-income economies in the World Bank “Connecting to Compete 2012: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy” report. Overall, SA ranks 23 out of 155 countries included in the Logistics Performance Indicators (LPI). Its main competitor on the African continent, Nigeria, is ranked 121.

South Africa sold $1.8 billion worth of cars to the US in 2010, putting us ahead of Sweden and Italy as suppliers to the US market. Car sales are projected to grow 10% in 2011 to 460,000 units. South Africa exported 36.9% more vehicles in 2010 than 2009.

The South African stock market rose 16.09% in 2010, ranking 8th out of the G20 nations and ahead of all of the G7 countries (Bespoke Investment Group).

South Africa is ranked 1st out of 142 countries in respect of regulation of security exchanges according to the World Economic Forum Global Competetiveness Report 2011/12

South Africa is ranked 1st in respect of auditing and reporting, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12.

South Africa ranks 1st out of 60 countries in the Economist’s House Price index for the period 1997 – 2009.

South Africa's banks rank 2nd in the world for soundness, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12.

The South African Rand was the second best performing currency against the US Dollar between 2007 and 2011, according to Bloomberg’s Currency Scorecard.

SA ranked 1st in Platinum output, 2nd in Palladium output, 3rd in Gold output, 6th in Coal output and 9th in wool output. (Economist)

SA is ranked 2nd out of 183 countries for good practice in protecting both borrowers and lenders when obtaining credit for business (World Bank Doing Business Report 2011)

SA is ranked 3rd in the world for protection of minority shareholders interests, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12.

South Africa ranked 6th in house price improvement indices as a % change in 2009, and 1st as a % change 1999/2009. (Economist).

SA is ranked 10th out of 142 countries for Strength of Investor Protection, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12.

SA is ranked 10th out of 183 countries for good practice in protecting investors in business. (World Bank Doing Business Report 2011).

South Africa ranks 7th out of 45 countries in the "Big Mac Index 2012". The price of a Big Mac is 42% less in South Africa than in the USA. In Switzerland and Norway, it is 62% more.

South Africa is ranked 12th out of a total of 134 economies in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2010, ahead of many developed nations, including, the UK (15th), United States (19), Canada (20), Australia (23) and France (46).

South Africa ranked 15th in terms of "largest deficits" but as a percentage of GDP is not in the top 40 countries. (Economist).

The JSE ranks 16th in terms of "largest market capitalisation" and 19th in terms of largest gains. (Economist)
SA is ranked 23rd out of 81 countries in the Jones Lang LaSalle's "World's most Transparent Real Estate Markets" placing it well ahead of China, Brazil, India and Russia. "Robust governance, strong auditing and a developed legal system" were cited as the main reasons for leading the developing markets in this rating.

South Africa ranks 24th out of 192 countries in the Economist’s "Largest Gold Reserves" Index and 30th in terms of official US$ reserves.

In a survey of 192 countries, South Africa’s unemployment as a percentage of economically active population ranked 27th.

SA ranks 28th in terms of number of cars produced and 18th in terms of number of cars sold. (Economist).
South Africa is ranked 34th out of 183 countries for ease of doing business according to Doing Business 2011, a joint publication of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation.

South Africa ranks 41st out of 192 countries in the Economist’s "Biggest Exporters" Index.

South Africa ranked 50th out of 142 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12, up from 54th in 2010/11.

South Africa ranks 54th in a comparison of the overall tax burden of 150 countries worldwide.

South Africa ranks in the top 20 countries for agricultural output.

According to a survey of 62 countries by the World Bank and the IMF, South Africa has the 36th highest foreign debt, ahead of the US, Japan and all the European countries surveyed.The economist ranks South Africa 29th out of 60.

MTN has been ranked Africa’s most valuable brand in the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2012 survey. MTN becomes the first and only African brand to make the list, debuting at position 88 in the world.
Tourism

The number of tourists visiting South Africa has grown from 3.9million in 1994 to 11.3 million in 2010.

South Africa is ranked among the top 5 countries in the world in respect of tourism growth (growing at 3 times the global average).

SA ranks 24th in terms of tourist arrivals at 11.3 million (France 79 million, UK 28 million, Switzerland 8.5 million, India 5.2 million). (Economist)

Cape Town was named the top tourist destination in the world in the 2011 Traveler’s Choice Destinations awards.

OR Tambo airport is the best airport in Africa, according to the World Airport Awards 2010/11. It was also in the top 3 most improved airports in the world for the same period.

27 South African beaches were awarded Blue Flags, an international indicator of high environmental standards for recreational beaches in 2010.

South Africa is ranked 66th out of 139 in the World Economic Forums Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2010/11.
Sport

South Africa was the first African country to host the FIFA Soccer World Cup in 2010. It is only the second country in the world to have hosted the Cricket, Rugby Union and Soccer World Cups.

In 2009, the Springboks become the first international team to be World Champions in both 15-a-side and Sevens rugby.

South Africa is home to the world's largest individually timed cycle race (the Cape Argus Cycle Race), the world's largest open water swim (the Midmar Mile) and the world's largest ultra-marathon (the Comrades Marathon).

5 South Africans hold the world extreme swimming world record for swimming 2.5kms around Cape Horn.

Since the 1940’s, South African golfers have won more golf majors than any other nation, apart from the United States.
According to The Cricketer magazine, Newlands in Cape Town is second-best Test Match venue in the world in 2012. Lords was first.

Education

SA has 30,000 schools (7,000 secondary, 23,000 primary). In 1994 only 12,000 had electricity. Now 24,000 have access to electricity.

The University of South Africa (UNISA) is a pioneer of tertiary distance education and is the largest correspondence university in the world with approximately 300,000 students.

South Africa’s learner to teacher ratio has improved from 1:50 in 1994 to 1:31 in 2010.

The University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) is the highest ranked African business school and is ranked 47th overall in the world (Financial Times Executive Education rankings 2012)

According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12, South Africa is ranked 13th out of 142 countries for it's quality of management schools.

61% of South African primary school children and 30% of high school children receive free food as part of the school feeding scheme.

The first MBA programme outside of the United States was started by the University of Pretoria in 1949.
Stellenbosch University was the first African university in the world to design and launch a microsatellite
297 new ECD (Early Childhood Development) centres have been set up and registered in the first quarter of 2011
Environmental

In 1991, South Africa became the first country in the world to provide full protection status　for the Great White shark within its jurisdictional waters. Countries including USA, Australia, Malta and Namibia followed suit later.

Cape Town has the fifth-best blue sky in the world according to the UK's National Physical Laboratory.

Johannesburg ranks 2nd among countries from Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa in dealing with urbanisation and environmental challenges, in the MasterCard Insights Report on Urbanisation and Environmental Challenges.
South Africa is the only country to house an entire floral kingdom (Fynbos), one of only 6 on the planet.

The Vredefort Dome (or Vredefort crater) in the Free State, is the largest verified impact crater on Earth at between 250 and 300km in diameter and is estimated to be over 2 billion years old.

SA ranks 18th in terms of biggest emitters of CO², 9th as a proportion of GDP and 27th in terms of CO² per person. (Economist).

South Africa has the highest level of international certification of its tree plantations in the world. Over 80% of South African plantations are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa

All paper in South Africa is produced from plantation grown trees, recycled paper or bagasse (sugar cane fibre). Fibre is not sourced from the wood of rainforests, indigenous or boreal trees. This is a myth, often wrongfully perpetuated by e-mail footnotes. Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa
The proportion of the South African population using improved drinking water sources was 91% in 2010, up from 83% in 1990. (WHO/UNICEF, March 2012)
Social and Infrastructure

SA's population is the 27th largest in the world (there are 230 countries, only 80 have a population in excess of 10 million).

The current police to population ratio is approximately 1:308 (SAPS – April 2011). This ranks South Africa as the 9th best There are 195,000 in the employ of SA Police. There are 411,000 in the employ of private security companies. TOTAL 606,000. Divide by 49,000,000. Conclusion: for every 80 citizens there is someone looking after some or other aspect of safety and security. Or put differently 1250 security ‘officials’ per 100,000 citizens! (Business Day)
The percentage of the South African population with access to clean drinking water has increased from 62% in 1994, to 93% in 2011. Access to electricity has increased from 34% in 1994, to 84% in 2011.

In 2010, 13.5 million South Africans benefited from access to social grants, 8.5 million of which were children, 3.5 million pensioners and 1.5 million with disabilities. In 1994, only 2.5 million people had access to social grants, the majority of which were pensioners.

Since 1994, 435 houses have been built each day for the poor.

According to Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamimi of the 914 poverty alleviation programmes launched by government 232 have collapsed

Two South African cities were voted amongst the world's top 100 Most Liveable Cities in the 2010 study conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

Cape Town was ranked in 86th place and Johannesburg 90th

SA ranks 8th out of 142 countries on the Legal Rights index, (Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12).

SA ranks 30th out of 142 countries on property rights (Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12).

Johannesburg is ranked as the 87th largest city in the world. Tokyo is the largest with a population of 36 million (Economist).

SA ranked34 out of 192 countries in terms of infrastructure and 12th for our rail network.

South African media ranks 38th out of 178 countries in the Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2010, higher than France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and all of the other BRICS countries.

SA has the 18th largest prisoner to population ratio (USA is number 1).

In terms of total crimes recorded SA ranked 10th, USA 8th and the UK 6th.

Out of 230 cities surveyed around the world, Johannesburg ranks the 151st and Cape Town the 171st most expensive city for expatriates to live in according to the 2010 Cost of Living Standards Survey from Mercer Human Resource Consulting, ahead of Tokyo (2), Moscow (4), Hong Kong (, London (=17), Paris (=17), Tel Aviv (19), Sao Paulo (21), Sydney (24), Rome (26), New York (27), Dubai (55) and Auckland (149).

South Africa is the 19th largest producer of energy (economist)

SA’s has the 17th longest road network in the world and ranks 29th in terms of most used, but does not feature in terms of most crowded. (Economist).

SA ranks 25th in terms of "most air travel". (Economist)

According to Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile Nkwinti 90% of the land re-distributed to emerging farmers (approx 930 farms) is lying fallow and unproductive

SA’s rail network is ranked 11th in terms of longest networks and 9th in terms of millions of tons per km transported. (Economist)

SA ranks 24th in terms of "lowest divorce rate" per 100,000 of population. (Economist).

Health

14.7 million South Africans have been tested for HIV, 13 million in public health facilities and 1.7 million in private health care facilities, as part of the HIV counselling and testing (HCT) campaign

South Africa has 1 doctor per 1000 population and 3 beds per 1000 population (Spain 3 doctors per 1000 population and 3.4 beds, UK 2 doctors per 1000 population and 4 beds, South Korea 1.4 doctors per 1000 population and 7.1 beds, USA 2.7 doctors per 1000 population and 3 beds). (Economist)

South Africa ranked 4th in terms of HIV/Aids prevalence amongst population behind Swaziland, Botswana and Lesotho. (Economist)

SA ranks 20th in terms of death per 1000 of population (15) alongside Russia, Afghanistan is at No 1 (18.2), UK ranks 58th (10). South Africa does not feature in the world’s 44 highest infant mortality rates. (Economist)

Miscellaneous

South Africa has 11 official, state wide, languages, more than any other country.

The only street in the world to house 2 Nobel Peace Prize winners is in Soweto. Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu both have houses in Vilakazi Street, Orlando West. SA ranks 7th in terms of number of Nobel Peace prizes. (Economist).

Two of the world’s most profoundly compassionate philosophies originated in South Africa – Ubuntu (the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity) and Gandhi’s notion of "Passive resistance" (Satyagraha), which he developed while living in South Africa.

The Western Deep Level mines are the world’s deepest mines at approaching 4km.

South Africa houses one of the three largest telescopes in the world at Sutherland in the Karoo.

South Africa is the first, and to date only, country to build nuclear weapons and then voluntarily dismantle its entire nuclear weapons programme.

SA ranks 12th in terms of beer consumption (China 1; USA 2; Russia 3; Brazil 4 and Germany 5).

SA has 45 million active cell phones (population 49 million) – ranking in the top 5 globally in terms of cell phone coverage.

SA has 66 colour TV’s per 100 households, 9 telephone lines per 100 population and 90 mobile telephone subscribers per 100 population. (Economist).

2 Cape Town restaurants are in the top 50 restaurants in the world according to the S.Pellegrino Worlds 50 Best Restaurants list 2010. La Colombe restaurant in Constantia, Cape Town, was voted the 12th best and Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek came in at 31

South Africa has 8.5 computers per 100 population (UK 80, Spain 40,South Korea 47 and USA 80). (Economist).
SA ranks 31st in terms of internet users per 1000 population. (Economist).
SA ranks 16th in terms of cinema visits per 1000 population. (Economist).
South Africa does not feature on the "brain drain" list of 20 countries. (Economist)

Since the First World War, the need for air supremacy has been a central part of conflict, from the earliest fighter aces dogfighting over the trenches, through the Battle of Britain to the modern fast jets patrolling no-fly zones in Libya.
The other constant factor in military aviation is the fact that the role and requirements of aircraft is always changing and evolving. The rise of unmanned drones patrolling the lonely skies of Afghanistan is the latest example of such evolution.

And sometimes these roles fall out of fashion as needs change and then return several decades later.

This is happening today: the changing nature of conflict is seeing a resurgence of aircraft capable of fulfilling the armed ISTAR role: Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance . In other words, aircraft which can be your eyes and ears, and a strike threat, in the skies above a conflict zone.

This ability was in great demand during the Vietnam War but then fell out of vogue. Now, with the days of set piece battles confined seemingly to the past and the rise of counter-insurgency (COIN) operations, the ISTAR role is of vital importance again.

Recent and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan are positive proof of this. In Afghanistan, a mix of vast areas of desert and farmland laced with unforgiving mountain ranges, Coalition Forces have had to adapt their fast jet combat aircraft for the counter-insurgency role.

The UK and France have even been using their valuable fourth-generation Typhoon and Rafale fighter aircraft to search for and destroy soft targets on the ground during the Libyan campaign. At a cost of more than US$100,000 per flying hour there has to be a more cost-effective solution to the COIN role.

The US Air Force realized this when it issued a Light Armed/Armed Reconnaissance tender for its new envisaged COIN air commando unit, and a Light Air Support requirement for the Afghanistan National Army Air Corps – with both intended to be in theatre by 2013.

These programmes called for fixed-wing single-engine turboprop platforms, with a number of critical requirements for the winning aircraft to fulfill, including the capability of landing on rough ground without support, dual controls, ejection seats, specific air-to-ground weapons and systems and a defensive-aids system.

Two contenders were adaptations of basic trainer aircraft, the Brazilian Super Tucano and the US AT-6B Texan II, while a third was a modified agricultural crop sprayer. None were designed as armed reconnaissance/counter-insurgency platforms, although an outsider was: Boeing’s reworking of the original North American Rockwell Bronco, dubbed the OV-10X.

The Bronco’s service life began during the Vietnam War and it played the COIN/ISTAR role to a tee. Almost 50 years later, it has proven to be a hard act to follow - continuing to operate with air forces in Colombia, Venezuela, Indonesia and the Philippines for example.

The US projects have stalled, albeit perhaps only temporarily, but the need for a purpose-built COIN/ISTAR aircraft remains – particularly one that is priced attractively given today’s economic conditions. We hope that believe our new aircraft, AHRLAC (Advanced High-performance Light Attack Aircraft) provides the perfect fit.

The two-crew aircraft can stay in the air for up to 10 hours – far longer than fast jets – and carry out forward air control, policing, anti-smuggling patrols, disaster relief and emergency supply to remote areas in addition to the surveillance/counter-insurgency roles.

Meanwhile its highly flexible form of “clip-on-clip-off” payload systems enables it to switch quickly between operational roles. Powered by a P&W PT6A turboprop, it has high cruise and dash speeds, and range of 1,150 nautical miles on internal fuel making it ideal for patrolling large areas.

It can also be deployed in the bush, thanks to its short take-off and landing (STOL) capability from rough, remote landing strips.

AHRLAC can also provide an affordable alternative to unmanned aerial vehicles, in both military and civil applications.

The launch of AHRLAC marks a technological triumph for South Africa and the continent as we will be designing and manufacturing our own aircraft and can benefit from the jobs and economic growth associated with a new era in aviation.

International financial institutions rank Ethiopia as one of the fastest growing economies but debates rage over its political strategy and regional role

As business and political leaders descend on Addis Ababa for the World Economic Forum on 9-11 May, Premier Meles Zenawi’s government will be trumpeting its economic achievements. Visitors expecting a war-torn land scarred by continuing famine will be shocked. Yet the economic claims of the government, the World Bank and other international agencies (which depend on state cooperation) deserve closer analysis. On several big issues, Meles has become the voice of Africa and de facto leader of the New Partnership for African Development. He attends Group of 8 and G-20 meetings, says the right things about climate change and gets on well with United States President Barack Obama and Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron on Somalia.

In cold statistics, Meles’s government – in power for 21 years – has presided over a formidable economic turnaround. A recent World Bank report suggested that Ethiopia navigated the global economic crisis in 2008-9 better than many others. Modest declines in exports, remittances and foreign investment have recovered to more than pre-crisis levels. The International Monetary Fund recently suggested that Ethiopia could join the middle-income countries if its rapid growth continued. All this follows government claims of average 11% annual economic growth for the last eight years. When pressed, IMF and World Bank officials concede the government’s calculations are ‘optimistic’ but ‘not by more than 1 or 2%’.

In November 2010, Ethiopia launched an ambitious five-year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), aiming to improve the economy, incomes and social indicators. The government finds Western models largely irrelevant, as was made clear at the opening of the new Chinese-built headquarters of the African Union in January. Meles talks of a ‘Democratic Development State’ on the lines of Taiwan, South Korea and (in the background) China.

Critical outsiders talk of ‘developmental authoritarianism’, lumping Ethiopia with Rwanda as its leading exponents. The idea is that the central government keeps a tight grip on political and social freedom, invests heavily in roads, power plants and communications, and promotes access to markets for small-scale producers. Apart from concern about political freedom, outside critics argue that developing states cannot credibly take on that role, even if backed by lavish Chinese finance.

Another great leap forward
The GTP assumes average growth of 11% at worst and 14.9% at best, doubling the size of the economy by 2015 and matching China’s accelerated growth in the 1990s. It would involve doubling agricultural production, significant increases in industrial production (notably in sugar, with ten new factories), fertiliser, cement, metals, textiles and leather goods. Infrastructure plans include over 2,000 kilometres of railway and 88,000 km of new roads. Hydropower would increase by 8,000 megawatts to 10,000 MW, distributed to 75% of Ethiopia with the possibility of exporting to the rest of Africa and the Middle East. The target is to increase mobile telephone access to reach 45% of the population, a quadrupling of usage but still below South Africa and Nigeria.

Critics say the lack of competition in Ethiopia’s telecommunications sector and lack of internet access are still holding back development. Overall, the aim is to reduce the incidence of poverty from 29% (2010) to 22%. Larger objectives are defined as attaining high growth within a stable macroeconomic framework – in a stable, democratic, ‘developmental state’.

The Horn of Africa suffered its worst drought in decades in 2011. This year’s March to May rains began late and will be below the long-term average; these short belg rains reduce annual food production by up to 30% in northern areas and by 40-50% in the south. A second successive dry year will increase regional food insecurity, especially in the south and east where some 3 million people now get food aid.

Exporting is more difficult because Ethiopia has no port but export earnings for the first eight months of the fiscal year showed a 16% rise on the previous year, with increased earnings from gold and oil seeds (Ethiopia is now the world’s fourth largest exporter of sesame). The main earner, though, is coffee exports, which fell from 122,000 to 75,000 tonnes. The government’s biggest problem is inflation, now at an annual average of 40%. Civil servants and teachers had pay rises last year, but below 40%. Even the director general in a ministry gets only 5,000 birr (US$285) a month. The price of tef, the basic grain, has doubled in the past year, while food prices have more than quadrupled. Blaming this on corrupt profiteering, the government made a brief, unsuccessful attempt to cap prices by order and increased public-sector salaries.

In early February, Meles claimed that inflation had fallen to 32%, saying he hoped it would drop to single figures by July or August. Yet February saw another surge to 36%, then a fall again in March. In early April, he still claimed that control measures were working. He again blamed external factors but tacitly accepted some responsibility by admitting the government had cut public borrowing and was controlling the money supply.

Local oppression
Some authority has been decentralised to district and local administrations which, some say, can be more oppressive than central government. Much control is organised through the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), whose successes in the 2008 local and the 2010 national elections swept away the opposition parties.

An effort is under way to mobilise domestic savings. The government insists that the 78 bn. birr needed to fund the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Abay/Blue Nile River (see Box, Running water, vaulting ambition) will be met internally though the sale of bonds and other resources. It is also trying to identify cuts to make without harming the whole. The customs authority is being reorganised and attempts made to maximise tax collection. The government is even preparing to take on the Mercato (market) in Addis Ababa, where it is estimated that half Ethiopia’s financial transactions take place in 18,000 legal businesses and 9,000 illegal ones.

In 2011, the tax department took 50.8 bn. birr, 15 bn. up on the previous year; the first seven months of this fiscal year showed a further increase of 12.5 bn. birr. One much-criticised scheme is the drive to develop commercial agriculture by large-scale land leases to foreign companies: some call it land-grabbing. The government has identified 3 mn. hectares available for large-scale production of food or other crops, with nearly 1 mn. hectares of marginal land for bio-fuel crops: jatropha, castor, oil palm and pongamia. Last year’s overall fuel bill was $1.7 bn., up by 25% on 2009-10; it is likely to be higher this year, as tension between Sudan and South Sudan cut off supplies. There are plans to increase ethanol production from the sugar factories now being built.

Another policy international which non-governmental organisations criticise is the resettlement programme which would disrupt the traditional lifestyle of pastoralists – but give them secure livelihoods. In Gambella, Benishangul and Somali regions, 125,000 households have been resettled. On official figures, Ethiopia has reduced rural poverty, improved life expectancy, raised levels of education and other social indicators. The government says it is poised for take off with its large labour force and low wages. Yet the big political questions remain: how much freedom and accountability will the government allow? How fairly will the fruits of faster growth be spread?

Food, housing and water are deemed more important than democracy and trade unions. ‘We’re a fairly tough regime, no one denies that,’ says an official in Addis, privately. He makes Ethiopia’s world view clear: Eritrea is a menace; Somalia is not a cosy neighbour; the Oromo Liberation Front makes threatening noises but is in complete disarray. Foreign NGOs such as Human Rights Watch have difficulty entering the affected areas and horror stories emerge from the refugee camps about periodic political crackdowns.

Human rights training for the police has made little impact; trainees know that toughness is expected and that includes those trained by British specialists, whose contracts have been started, cancelled, then resumed. Meles talks of a democratic development state: it is likely to prove more developmental than democratic

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says it will partner South Africa on manpower training, procurement of equipment and joint military exercises with a view to building a formidable air force.

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Umar said this in Kaduna on Friday at the ongoing 2nd Nigeria Air Exposition, organised as part of activities to mark the 48th Anniversary of the Nigerian Air Force. Umar expressed satisfaction with the participation of foreign companies at the expo, especially African countries, and said that bilateral relations had been signed with a host of them.

"Our discussions bordered on bilateral cooperation in the areas of training, operation and equipment. "We have had lots of requests from our sister African countries in terms of training, equipment and collaboration in military exercises.

"We are looking at those requests and when they go through the proper channels, the Nigerian air force will be ready to oblige them." Earlier, the Chief Director, Air Policy and Plans of South African Air Force, Maj.-Gen. Zakes Msimang, commended NAF for the high level of professionalism and enthusiasm displayed during the event.

Msimang assured that the South African Air Force would work with NAF to built a powerful and formidable air force in Africa that would meet global standards. "I must be honest; I am overwhelmed by the level of professionalism and enthusiasm displayed by the Nigerian Air Force.

"From what we have observed, we can see a platform of collaboration through which we can put more effort to ensure that we built a formidable air force in Africa."

Lt.-Col. Toure Abdelaziz , Deputy Chief of Air Staff of Niger Republic, said his country would like to partner with NAF in training and maintenance of military equipment.

"The air expo is very rich and we saw the capabilities of the Nigerian Air Force and therefore, seek collaboration in training and maintenance", Abdelaziz said. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that service chiefs from 22 countries, participated in the one-week event.

Some of the participants came from Uganda, Pakistan, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Niger, Ghana, Guinea Bissau and the Republic of South Africa. Also in attendance were Rwanda, Gambia, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Senegal, Brazil and India.

The argument advanced by Ethiopians is irrelevant, hogwash, baldadash, and carry no substantial facts. Debates are about what you have, capable of achieving, competency, qualification and quality. To boast about 18 century achievements hold no relevancy in today´s military modern world. To advance narrow nationalism as facts is an outdated form of defence bring facts....cite one thing that is MADE IN ETHIOPIA not a 18 century muskeet, coffee and plastic shoes.

Myth should be dispelled that African Bantus folded their arms and never offered any resistance against white occupation and colonisation...here below is an account of brave Zulu warriors

The Battle of Isandlwana
Isandlwana, the battle that rocked Victorian Britain; at which the Zulus wiped out a substantial British force including the 1st Battalion, 24th Foot.

War: Zulu War

Date: 22nd January 1879

Place: 10 miles east of the Tugela River in Zululand, South Africa.

1st Battalion, 24th Foot, massacred at the hands of
the Zulus at the Battle of Isandlwana, 22nd January 1879
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Combatants: Zulu army against a force of British troops, Natal units and African levies.

Generals: Lieutenant Colonel Pulleine of the 24th Foot and Lieutenant Colonel Durnford commanded the British force at the battle. The Zulu Army was commanded by Chiefs Ntshingwayo kaMahole and Mavumengwana kaMdlela Ntuli.

Size of the armies: The British force comprised some 1,200 men. It is likely that they were attacked by around 12,000 Zulus.

Orders of Greenwich, Conn, USA.Uniforms, arms and equipment: The Zulu warriors were formed in regiments by age, their standard equipment the shield and the stabbing spear. The formation for the attack, described as the “horns of the beast”, was said to have been devised by Shaka, the Zulu King who established Zulu hegemony in Southern Africa. The main body of the army delivered a frontal assault, called the “loins”, while the “horns” spread out behind each of the enemy’s flanks and delivered the secondary and often fatal attack in the enemy’s rear. Cetshwayo, the Zulu King, fearing British aggression took pains to purchase firearms wherever they could be bought. By the outbreak of war the Zulus had tens of thousands of muskets and rifles, but of a poor standard, and the Zulus were ill-trained in their use.

The regular British infantry were equipped with the breach loading single shot Martini-Henry rifle and bayonet. The British infantry wore red tunics, white solar topee helmets and dark blue trousers with red piping down the side. The irregular mounted units wore blue tunics and slouch hats.

Winner: The British force was wiped out by the Zulu Army.

British Regiments:
2 guns and 70 men of N Battery, 5th Brigade, Royal Artillery (equipped with 2 seven pounder guns).
5 companies of 1st Battalion, the 24th Foot
1 company of 2nd Battalion, the 24th Foot
Mounted volunteers and Natal Police
2 companies of the Natal Native Infantry


Account:
The battle at Isandlwana stunned the world. It was unthinkable that a “native” army armed substantially with stabbing weapons could defeat the troops of a western power armed with modern rifles and artillery, let alone wipe it out.

Until news of the disaster reached Britain the Zulu War was just another colonial brushfire war of the sort that simmered constantly in many parts of the worldwide British Empire. The complete loss of a battalion of troops, news of which was sent by telegraph to Britain, transformed the nation’s attitude to the war.


In December 1878 the British authorities delivered an ultimatum to Cetshwayo requiring him to give up a group of Zulus accused of murdering a party of British subjects. In the absence of a satisfactory response Chelmsford attacked Zululand on 11th January 1879.

Chelmsford’s previous wars in South Africa did not prepare him for the highly aggressive form of warfare practised by the Zulus.


Chelmsford divided his force into three columns. Colonel Evelyn Wood VC (won in the Indian Mutiny) of the 90th Light Infantry commanded the column that crossed the Tugela into the North of Zululand. Colonel Pearson of the 3rd Foot (the Buffs) commanded in the south, by the Indian Ocean coast. Colonel Glynn of the 24th Foot commanded the Centre Column, comprising both battalions of the 24th Foot, units of the Natal Native Infantry, Natal irregular horse and Royal Artillery.


Chelmsford’s original plan had envisaged 5 columns crossing the Tugela. Shortage of troops forced him to reorganise his force into the 3 columns. Chelmsford required the original Number 2 Column under Colonel Durnford, a Royal Engineers officer with considerable experience in commanding irregular South African troops, to act in conjunction with Glynn’s Centre Column.

Chelmsford resolved to head for Isandlwana Hill. Isandlwana can be seen from Rorke’s Drift, a distinctive shape some 10 miles into Zulu country that the British troops likened to a Sphinx or a crouching lion. The proximity of this strange feature adds substantially to the macabre aura that hangs over the battle.

In the face of the invasion Cetshwayo mobilised the Zulu armies on a scale not seen before, possibly some 24,000 warriors. The Zulu force divided into two, one section heading for the Southern Column and the remainder making for Chelmsford’s Centre Column.


The Centre Column reached Isandlwana on 20th January 1879 and encamped on its lower slopes.
On 21st January 1879 Major Dartnell led a mounted reconnaissance in the direction of the advance. He encountered the Zulus in strength. Dartnell’s command was unable to disengage from the Zulus until the early hours of 22nd January 1879.

Receiving Dartnell’s intelligence Chelmsford resolved to advance against the Zulus with a sufficient force to bring them to battle and defeat them. 2nd Battalion, 24th Foot, the Mounted Infantry and 4 guns were to march out as soon as it was light.


Lieutenants Melville and Coghill escape with
the Queen's Colour of the 24th FootEarly on the morning of 22nd January 1879 Chelmsford advanced with his force and joined Dartnell. The Zulus however had disappeared. Chelmsford’s troops began a search of the hills.

The Zulus had bypassed Chelmsford and moved on Isandlwana. The first indication in the camp that there was likely to be a Zulu threat came when parties of Zulus were seen on the hills to the north east and then to the east.

Colonel Pulleine, the officer in command in the camp, ordered his command to form to the east, the direction in which the Zulus had appeared. Pulleine dispatched a message to Chelmsford warning him that the Zulus were threatening the camp.

At about 10am Colonel Durnford arrived at Isandlwana with a party of mounted men and a rocket troop.

Durnford promptly left the camp to follow up the reports of the imminence of the Zulus and Pulleine agreed to support him if he found himself in difficulties. Captain Cavaye’s company of the 1st/24th was placed in picquet on a hill to the North. The remainder of the troops in camp stood down.

On the heights, Durnford’s mounted troops spread out and searched for the Zulus. One troop of mounted volunteers pursued a party of Zulus as they retired until suddenly out of a fold in the ground the whole Zulu army appeared.

The Zulus were forced to act by the sudden appearance of the mounted volunteers and advanced in some confusion, shaking out as best they could into the traditional form of assault: the left horn, the central chest of the attack and the right horn.

One of Durnford’s officers rode back to Isandlwana to warn the camp that it was about to be attacked.

Pulleine had just received a message from Chelmsford ordering him to break camp and move up to join the rest of the column. On receipt of Durnford’s message Pulleine deployed his men to meet the crisis.


British troops escaping from
the Zulus across the TugelaIt is thought that neither Pulleine nor any of his officers appreciated the scope of the threat from the Zulus or the size of the force that was descending on them. Pulleine acted as if the only need was to support Durnford. He sent a second company under Captain Mostyn to join Captain Cavaye’s on the hill and 2 guns were moved to the left of the camp with companies of foot to support them.

As the Zulus advanced Durnford’s rocket troop was overwhelmed and the equipment taken, the Royal Artillery crews managing to escape.

The main Zulu frontal assault now appeared over the ridge and Mostyn’s and Cavaye’s companies hastily withdrew to the camp, pausing to fire as they went.

Pulleine’s battalion, drawn up in front of the camp at the base of the ridge, opened fire on the advancing Zulus of the “chest”, who found themselves impeded by the many dongas, or gullies, in their path and eventually went to ground.

The danger to the British line was presented by the Zulu “horns” which raced to find the end of the British flank and envelope it.

On the British right the companies of the 24th and the NNI were unable to prevent this envelopment. In addition the Zulus were able to infiltrate between the companies of British foot and the irregulars commanded by Durnford.

It is said that a major problem for the British was lack of ammunition and failings in the system of re-supply. It seems that this was not so for the 24th. However Durnford’s men on the extreme right flank did run out of ammunition and were forced to mount up and ride back into the camp, thereby leaving the British flank open.

The Zulu chiefs took this opportunity to encourage the warriors of the “chest”, until now pinned down by the 24th’s fire, to renew their attack. This they did causing the British troops to fall back on the encampment.

A Zulu regiment rushed between the withdrawing British centre and the camp and the “horns” broke in on each flank The British line quickly collapsed.


As the line broke up, groups formed and fought the Zulus until their ammunition gave out and they were overwhelmed. A section of Natal Carbineers commanded by Durnford is identified as giving a heavy fire until their ammunition was spent. They fought on with pistols and knives until they were all struck down.

The “horns” of the Zulu attack did not quite close around the British camp, some soldiers managing to make their way towards Rorke’s Drift. But the Zulus cut the road and the escaping soldiers from the 24th were forced into the hills where they were hunted down and killed. Only mounted men managed to make it to the river by the more direct route to the south west.


A group of some 60 soldiers of the 24th Foot under Lieutenant Anstey, were cornered on the banks of a tributary of the Tugela and wiped out.

The last survivor in the main battle, a soldier of the 24th, escaped to a cave on the hillside where he continued fighting until his ammunition gave out and he was shot down.

The final act of the drama was played out along the banks of the Tugela River. Numbers of men were caught there by the Zulus. It is thought that natives living in Natal came down to the river and on the urgings of the Zulus killed British soldiers attempting to escape.


The most memorable episode of this stage of the battle concerns Lieutenants Melville and Coghill. Melville was the adjutant of the 1st Battalion, the 24th Foot. He is thought to have collected the Queen’s Colour from the guard tent towards the end of the battle and ridden out of camp heading for the Tugela River. Melville arrived at the river, in flood from the rains, with and plunged in. Half way across Melville came off his horse, still clutching the cased colour. Coghill, also of the 24th Foot, crossed the river soon after and went to Melville’s assistance. The Zulus were by this time lining the bank and opened a heavy fire on the two officers. Coghill’s horse was killed and the colour swept away. Both officers struggled to the Natal bank where it seems likely that they were killed by Natal natives.

Melville and Coghill probably died at around 3.30pm. At 2.29pm there was a total eclipsed of the sun briefly plunging the terrible battle into an eerie darkness.

Casualties:
52 British officers and 806 non-commissioned ranks were killed. Around 60 Europeans survived the battle. 471 Africans died fighting for the British. Zulu casualties have to be estimated and are set at around 2,000 dead either on the field or from wounds. The Zulus captured 1,000 rifles with the whole of the column’s reserve ammunition supply.


The death of Lieutenants Melville and Coghill after Isandlwana

Follow-up:
Chelmsford’s force was unaware of the disaster that had overwhelmed Pulleine’s troops until the news filtered through that the camp had been taken. Chelmsford was staggered. He said “But I left 1,000 men to guard the camp.”

Chelmsford’s column returned to the scene of horror at Isandlwana and camped near the battlefield.

Chelmsford’s nightmare was that the Zulus would invade Natal. In the distance the British could see Rorke’s Drift mission station burning. From that Chelmsford knew that the Zulus had crossed the Tugela.

In the longer term the British Government determined to avenge the defeat and overwhelming reinforcements were dispatched to Natal. General Sir Garnet Wolseley was sent to replace Lord Chelmsford, arriving after the final battle of the war. Cetshwayo’s overwhelming success at Isandlwana secured his ultimate downfall.


21st May 1879: Chelmsford's column returns to bury the dead from the
Battle of Isandlwana and to retrieve the wagons.

NO COUNTRY CAN CLAIM MONOPOLY TO AFRICAN WARS OF RESISTANCE

SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE ACQUISTION PROGRAMME

The acquisition focus of the South African National Defence Force in the near term will be on crisis response, border security and force projection as well as sustainment in a peace support context. That's the word from the 2012 Defence Review, released last Thursday.

“Prioritisation of defence acquisition is driven by the interaction between the evolving strategic situation and the composition and equipment state of the Defence Force,” it reads. “This is, therefore, also an evolving process during which priorities will be adapted to match operational requirements.”

From the medium term onwards, it will be necessary to re-equip the medium and heavy forces and the relevant supporting elements to ensure that they retain deterrent credibility and provide deployable peace enforcement and conflict containment capability. “Some of the projects to meet medium term requirements will have to commence during the near term to ensure that those capabilities are available in the medium term, partly because of the numbers required (for instance of vehicles, which are optimally built and delivered over an extended period) and partly because of long lead times (for instance in building and commissioning ships).”


Immediate capability enhancement

Capabilities that need immediate work, the review reads, include extending the Special Forces (SF). “Terrorism and paramilitary threats will be a factor that South Africa must reckon with in the near term and over the coming decades, both in the context of South Africa’s expanded regional security role and as direct challenges or threats. Countering those challenges or threats will require enhancing and expanding the capabilities of the SF by enhancing Special Forces capability requires acquisition of additional equipment, weapons and systems, which may include a small number of dedicated aircraft of several types for insertion/extraction operations; and expanding SF capability requires establishment of additional units focused on particular missions, for instance urban counter-terrorism, and the acquisition of the relevant equipment, weapons and systems.”

A second challenge is border safeguarding. “The Defence Force has been assigned the mission of border safeguarding. This will require establishing additional units, and acquisition of equipment, weapons and systems optimised for that role, including agile, protected patrol vehicles; surveillance equipment, such as fixed and mobile acoustic, optronic and radar sensors and unmanned air vehicles, particularly micro-UAVs for patrol-level use; a static backbone communications system integrated with tactical air/ground and Police communications systems; non-lethal weapons of several kinds; and a data collation/fusion system to facilitate intelligence-led operations.”

Third is airspace surveillance and protection. “A related requirement is for enhanced air space surveillance and protection, which will require acquisition of static, mobile and airborne radar systems able to acquire and track aircraft flying low and using terrain-masking; and aircraft able to intercept and shadow suspect aircraft flying at low altitudes and low speeds.”

Next follows extended maritime security. “The expansion of Somali-based piracy into the Mozambique Channel has highlighted the importance and urgency of expanding South Africa’s maritime security capability. The immediate requirements include maritime surveillance or patrol aircraft; offshore patrol vessels; inshore patrol craft; additional shipboard helicopters; and equipment for shoreline patrols.”

Fourth follows a crisis response capability. “South Africa’s expanding regional security responsibilities require the development of an effective crisis response capability beyond that inherent in Special Forces. This requires acquisition of suitable equipment and weapons for the parachute and air-landed battalion groups, including protected vehicles that can be transported by medium transport aircraft and light vehicles that can be delivered by parachute; expansion and rejuvenation of the medium airlift capability; establishment of a heavy/long-range airlift capability that, together with the expanded medium airlift capability, will enable the Defence Force to deploy a parachute battalion group or an air-landed battalion group within 48 hours from South Africa to anywhere within the continental SADC region, to support local forces; or a forward base within the SADC continental SADC region to anywhere in a contiguous country.” It further requires the establishment of an in-flight refuelling capability to enable effective fighters support for crisis response deployments; and to enable extended range Special Forces operations.


Urgent capability enhancement

Urgent capability enhancement requirements exist where Defence Force lacks adequate capability to perform likely near/medium term missions, and where existing equipment is obsolete and must be replaced if key capabilities are to be retained, the review avers.

There are seven capability areas involved:

Infantry Combat Vehicles. The mechanised infantry battalions have wide utility, being suited to peacekeeping in high-risk situations and to peace enforcement, and forming a key element of deterrent capability. The Ratel vehicle family is obsolete, old (30 years) and difficult to maintain, and must be replaced urgently if the mechanised infantry is to remain credible and effective. [Project Hoefyster]

Armoured Personnel Carriers. Armoured personnel carriers are the main equipment of the motorised infantry battalions, which form the core of peace-support capability, and are vital elements of other units, including the medical battalion groups of the Military Health Service. There are three related requirements for new APCs: The Casspir and Mamba armoured personnel carriers of the motorised infantry no longer provide adequate protection against weapons available to irregular forces and bandits, are old (30 years) and difficult to maintain, and must be replaced urgently if these units are to remain effective; the Mfezi protected ambulances of the medical battalion groups are equally old and difficult to maintain, and must also be replaced; and the spread of improvised explosive devices into Africa further means that there is a requirement for ‘mine-resistant/ambush-protected’ (MRAP) patrol vehicles and personnel carriers to equip a proportion of these units. [Project Sapula]/Sepula]

Logistic Vehicles. No defence force can function without reliable logistic vehicles that are suited to the nature of its operations and the terrain of the theatre of operations. The existing Samil fleet of trucks is old (30 years) and difficult to maintain, and will lack the mobility to effectively support modern combat vehicles. “The bulk of the fleet must be replaced with suitable vehicles, including protected variants, as a matter of urgency.” [Project Vistula]

Light Artillery. Several recent conflicts in Africa have demonstrated an escalation in the capability and level of aggression of the forces involved, including serious attacks on peacekeeping units. “The Army needs light artillery that can be deployed quickly as a part of a rapid deployment peace support contingent, to provide counter-battery and defensive fires to protect airfields and bases. It currently has no such artillery, although a suitable 105 mm long-range gun and ammunition family are in development.” [Project Musuku/Masuku]

Aerial Weapons. “The Air Force must urgently acquire suitable weapons for the Gripen, the Hawk (in its alternate light attack role) and the Rooivalk if these aircraft are to be able to support ground forces effectively.”

Combat Support Ships. The extension of the Navy’s area of operations to include the Mozambique Channel and its approaches, and the likelihood of a further extension to counter piracy along the west coast of Africa, requires urgent acquisition of a second combat support ship to enable frigates and offshore patrol vessels to be employed efficiently. “That ship must be followed by replacement of SAS Drakensberg, which has been in service since 1987.”

The review further reads that there are also many requirements for enabling or supporting equipment that is essential to the effective employment of deployed forces. Among them are the replacement of old and unsuitable water purification, field kitchen and field accommodation equipment; the replacement of obsolete field workshop equipment; the replacement of old field hospital equipment; and the re-establishment of the Air Force tactical airfield unit capability, to enable support of aircraft away from Air Force bases.

“The Defence Force must also acquire communications systems and related equipment suited to both its deterrent role and its regional and continental security responsibilities.” Another urgent requirement is to acquire munitions and explosives of all kinds to allow effective live-fire and explosives training and the rebuilding of stocks.


Longer-term force rejuvenation and capability expansion

“Given the long-term nature of defence planning and defence acquisition planning, it is wise to also set out some key longer-term equipment requirements that will arise if the Defence Force is to remain an effective deterrent and is to meet South Africa’s regional security responsibilities,” the review' writers say. Some of these projects will have to be initiated in the near term if the required capabilities are to become available within a reasonable period, it adds. They include:

Expeditionary Operations. “If the Defence Force is to meet South Africa’s growing regional and continental security responsibilities, it must develop the capability to deploy and sustain medium forces outside the SADC region. That will require the development of a sealift capability that will enable the deployment of a mobile battalion group in a single lift; and the retention of one sealift platform offshore the deployment area to serve as a secure helicopter base, headquarters and logistic base for the landed force, while follow on forces are brought up by air and sea. That will require acquisition of at least two and preferably three ‘joint support ships’ with full helicopter operations capability and the ability to deploy landing craft to allow forces to be put ashore in the absence of a functioning harbour.” [Project Millennium]

Air Defence. “The Defence Force currently lacks any modern air defence weapons other than a single battery of very short range missiles (Starstreak). There are, therefore, clear requirements to acquire additional ‘very short range’ missiles to enable deployed units to protect themselves against air attack in a country in which a peace enforcement operation is taking place, be it by disaffected or hostile air force elements or by improvised attack aircraft such as used in Biafra in the 1960s and Sri Lanka in the 1990s; acquire mobile and mechanised air defence systems for medium forces that may be deployed for peace enforcement; and to ensure credible deterrence by providing for the protection of air bases, critical installations and deployed forces.” [GBADS: Projects Guardian, Outcome, Protector]

Main Battle Tank. “The main battle tank remains a core element of mobile forces in the deterrent role, and recent operations in several parts of the world (including Bosnia and Kosovo) [as well as Iraq and Afghanistan] have demonstrated the very considerable value of the main battle tank in peace enforcement and similar operations. The current Olifant is essentially a [1940s] tank that has undergone several upgrades, and is now obsolete in almost all respects. While it can be retained for a time as a training system, it is no longer credible as part of deterrent capability and lacks the reliability to be effective in supporting a peace enforcement operation, and must, therefore, be replaced as soon as possible.” [Project Aorta]

Medium Transport/Attack Helicopter. “While the Oryx will remain effective through 2020, it is essential to begin planning for its replacement now, as replacing the Oryx will probably require development of a ‘hot and high’ optimised variant of the type selected. That is a factor that could provide interesting opportunities for the South African industry, if the new helicopter will be acquired in numbers adequate to South Africa’s actual needs in the context of its regional and continental security responsibilities.” Those opportunities could include the development of the new variant together with the parent company (as was done with Oryx); the manufacture of the helicopter for the Air Force; the manufacture, in agreement with the parent company, of additional helicopters of this ‘hot and high’ variant for other air forces with similar requirements; and the development of a Rooivalk replacement on the basis of the new helicopter.

State-owned arms maker Denel has landed an R8-billion contract from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to develop the South African Army’s new generation infantry combat vehicle.

The contract, dubbed Project Hoefyster, is the largest contract the struggling Denel has won in its 16-year history

The South African Navy replenishment ship SAS Drakensberg has helped catch seven Somali pirates in the Mozambique Channel, in the Navy’s first hands-on capture of pirates since it began patrolling the waters off the East coast as part of Operation Copper.

According to the South Africa Navy (SAN), the capture of the pirates started off with an unsuccessful pirate attack on a Filipino merchant vessel last Friday at the Northern end of the Mozambican Channel. At about the same time, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Dar Es Salaam raised concern regarding the safety of a South African owned yacht, the Dandelion, en route from the French Island of Mayotte to the Mozambican port of Pemba.

By Sunday, the French Navy, who takes responsibility for this area in terms of Search and Rescue, had requested the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to assist in search efforts.

The SAS Drakensberg, with anti-piracy assets onboard, was already conducting patrol duties in the Mozambican Channel at that time as part of Operation Copper. The Drakensberg immediately commenced with a search for the missing yacht with the assistance of its embarked helicopter and a French maritime patrol aircraft.

On Monday morning, the French aircraft located the suspected pirate mother ship off the Tanzanian coast, moving in a Northerly direction. The pirate mother ship, with a skiff in tow, was identified as the Sri Lankan fishing vessel Nimesha Duwa, which was captured by pirates on November 9 last year.

At midday on Monday, the South African yacht was located off Pemba, having been delayed after suffering technical difficulties. The operation then changed from a Search and Rescue mission to a piracy interdiction operation. European naval units participating in the anti-piracy Operation Atalanta off the coast of Somalia, the Tanzanian Navy out of Dar Es Salaam, as well as the SAS Drakensberg were being controlled via three different Headquarters in a coordinated multi-national operation.

By Monday afternoon, the Tanzanian Navy had provided permission to the SANDF to conduct anti-piracy operations within its territorial waters and the hunt was on, the SA Navy said.

During the next 24 hours, an intensive search was conducted by the SAS Drakensberg and its SAAF helicopter along the cluttered Tanzanian coast. European and Tanzanian vessels were closing in from the North. Unfortunately, poor weather conditions hampered the search effort. However, the plan remained for the SAS Drakensberg to force the pirate vessels to escape to the North where the Tanzanian and European Union forces would be waiting.

By midday on Wednesday, the concerted pressure of the search efforts had forced the pirates to split up and the skiff with five suspected pirates were located on Songo Songo Island and subsequently arrested by Tanzanian authorities.

Wednesday evening saw units from four different countries closing in on the estimated position of the pirate mother ship. The Spanish warship got there first and managed to capture the vessel by 20:30. Seven suspected pirates were apprehended and the six Sri Lankan crew members were freed.

The SAS Drakensberg spent Wednesday night in the area to assist Tanzanian forces if so required. The suspected pirates have been handed over to the Tanzanian authorities for prosecution.

“In the end, it seems clear that a loud message has gone out that SANDF forces, as part of SADC armed forces, will not allow illegal activities within SADC waters,” the Navy said in a statement. “It is also clear that the Tripartite agreement between South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania, and the subsequent deployment of SADC forces to safeguard our sea lanes, is paying off dividends in ensuring the safety of our seafarers and their precious cargoes. To the sailors and air crew of the SAS Drakensberg, the operational planners of Chief of Joint Operations and all others involved; we salute your valiant efforts!”

A trilateral agreement was signed by South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania in February this year, allowing the three countries the right to, among other things, patrol, search, arrest, seize and undertake hot pursuit operations on any maritime crime suspect. In accordance with the trilateral agreement, this allows the SA Navy to patrol as far as Tanzania.

Tanzania has recorded an unprecedented number of pirate attacks, reporting 57 incidents in its territorial waters between February 2011 and February 2012, which is indicative of the relocation of piracy to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) ocean.

The chief of the Tanzanian Navy, Major General Saidi Shabani Omar, has reported that the effects of piracy have caused a third fewer ships to enter Dar es Salaam port, increasing the cost of living and commodities. Oil exploration recently commenced in Mozambique and Tanzania, but explorers require protection from pirates, which is very expensive.

Tanzania has arrested around two dozen pirates in the past few years, including seven in October last year. They were captured shortly after joint exercises with South African forces, including the Drakensburg, frigate SAS Mendi and the submarine SAS Charlotte Maxeke.

As part of Operation Copper, the Drakensberg recently relieved the frigate SAS Isandlwana, which returned to Simon’s Town in mid-March as a consequence of participating in Exercise Good Hope V with the German navy.

Anti-piracy patrols are usually conducted by the SA Navy’s four frigates (SAS Amatola, SAS Mendi, SAS Spioenkop and SAS Isandlwana). The latest patrols have generally been of six months duration. As the frigates are required to undergo repair and scheduled maintenance, they were replaced by the Drakensberg.

Although the Drakensberg is slower and is not armed like the frigates, it does carry two Oryx medium transport helicopters and is able to accommodate members of the Maritime Reaction Squadron, who perform the actual boarding and inspection of merchant vessels at sea.

Here below an indication of the role played by 250 South African Special Forces in the conflict of Siera Leone:

23 March 1991: A motley group of about 100 fighters comprising Sierra Leonean dissidents (mostly former university students), Liberian fighters loyal to Charles Taylor, and a small number of mercenary fighters from Burkina Faso invaded eastern Sierra Leone at Bomaru, Kailahun district. A second flank was opened in Pujehun District by a group entering from the Mano River bridge linking Liberia and Sierra Leone. The RUF was unknown to most Sierra Leoneans at the time; most believed it to be a front organisation for Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia. It was the start of a civil war which has destroyed Sierra Leone's development prospects and led to an almost total dependence upon paid mercenary forces and foreign troops.

Since 1985 Sierra Leone's government had been run by the former head of the military, President Joseph Momoh, a well-meaning drunken womaniser with few political skills or leadership qualities. He had taken over from the ageing Siaka Stevens (a.k.a. Shaking Stevens in his later years), the dominant political figure in the country's post-Independence history.

April 1991: More details emerged about the mysterious rebels who were terrorising Sierra Leone's hinterland. A communiqué announced the rebellion had been started in the name of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) whose leader was Foday Sankoh, an ex-army sergeant and professional photographer in his 50s. The RUF initially waged a war against farmers, villagers and alluvial miners, rather than against the central government in Freetown. The RUF espoused a crude ideology of rural resentment against exploitation; they used brutal tactics to terrorise civilians - often mutilating and amputating their limbs - in their efforts to exploit the inability of the Freetown government to protect its citizens. The rebellion worsened and civilian casualties mounted.

May 1991: Momoh, who knew his own army well, became increasingly worried about the threat the rebel RUF presented to internal security and fearful of the subversion of his own dissatisfied soldiers. Momoh looked towards Britain, the former colonial power, and expected Whitehall to help him out. Ties with Britain had been strong: the Royal Navy had used Freetown's port as a staging post during the Falkands War. Momoh himself had served in the West Africa Frontier Force along with senior British officers during the colonial era. He asked for military advisors to boost the Sierra Leone Army's capacity to deal with the terror threat, and to improve communications and intelligence capacity. Although individual officers were highly sympathetic to Momoh's request for help, the Ministry of Defence turned it down. After this point, officers in the SLA and government officials began to cast around for help from foreign mercenary troops against the RUF rebels.

October l991: There were clear signs that not only was the SLA losing the war against the RUF rebels, but that many of its brigades had become totally demoralised - and some were cooperating with the rebels. The government army was beginning to split into factions which made the RUF's operations (often backed up by intercepts of government intelligence reports) increasingly effective.

January 1992: A series of daring operations by the rebels in the diamond-rich south-east of the country indicated their strategy was to escalate from terrorising civilians to attacking economic targets

March 1992: There were more successful attacks by rebels on government army convoys. Some dissident soldiers appeared to have a secret alliance with the rebels: they were christened 'sobels'- rebels by day and soldiers by night. Morale in the army was deteriorating further.

29 April l992: Junior officers led by 26 year-old Captain Valentine Strasser delivered a démarche to Momoh's office in Freetown complaining about sinking army morale. Momoh, fearing the officers were trying to topple him, fled his office and told his guards to resist with military force. Capt. Strasser and his fellow officers then overwhelmed the guards while their supporters in the north of the city seized the government radio station and declared that the Momoh government had been overthrown.

1 May 1992: Capt. Strasser declared himself head of state (the youngest in the world at the time) and appointed Solomon Musa, another even younger junior officer as his number two. [Both are now in British Foreign Office-financed exile as law students in Britain.] Strasser presented himself as 'The Redeemer' - a reforming, popular figure in stylish fatigues and sun-glasses who would clean up the country's politics and end the rebel war. He initially tried to negotiate with RUF leader Foday Sankoh but several attempts at talks failed because Sankoh's preconditions were unacceptable to the Freetown government.

July 1992: Strasser reorganised the cabinet, replacing most of the military officials with civilians appointees. The idea was to allow the military members of the government to concentrate on winning the rebel war.

November 1992: Strasser decided to launch a major military offensive against the RUF after attempts to negotiate failed. The government army dislodged the RUF from its hold on the alluvial diamond mining areas in south-east Sierra Leone. For some months the rebels were pushed across the border into Liberia.

March 1993: As the war continued, the RUF were helped with military aid and logistics by faction leader Charles Taylor in Liberia. The RUF regrouped and infiltrated into the countryside again, waging an increasingly savage - and increasingly successful - rural revolt and exploiting rural grievances against Strasser's government. Taylor, (now President Taylor of Liberia after elections in mid-l997) had interfered in Sierra Leone since 1990 in order to shore up his own position and counter the influence of the regional power - Nigeria. The Nigerian military presence had supported successive Freetown governments, including Stevens and Momoh. Nigeria, which had a peace-keeping force based in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, moved two battalions of troops to assist Strasser's war efforts against the rebels. Nigeria also based its Alpha Jets at Freetown's Lungi airport from where they flew bombing raids into Liberia against targets occupied by Taylor's forces.

January 1994: The Strasser government launched an army recruitment drive, often signing up poorly-educated youths from the city streets, including orphans and abandoned children from age 12 upwards. The government army grew from 5,000 in l99l to 12,000 men in early l994.

February l995: The situation grew even more desperate when well-organised and ruthless groups of RUF fighters advanced towards the capital. Strasser's government was increasingly dependent upon foreign troops, particularly the 2,000 Nigerian troops stationed near the capital. The SLA was even more grossly ineffective, although it had swollen in size to over 14,000 by l995. Strasser requested further foreign assistance, initially from a group of former British Army Gurkhas, as the rebel war became international news with the capture by the RUF of groups of Western hostages (a group of Italian nuns, British VSOs and expatriate mine workers). The Channel Islands-based Gurkha Security Group, despite their fearsome reputation, proved ineffective. They got off to a poor start, embroiled in a road ambush in rural Sierra Leone. The RUF killed their Canadian commander, Colonel Robert MacKenzie, and other troops in February l995. The 50 Gurkha soldiers departed soon afterwards.

March 1995: Strasser then invited in the South African private security force, Executive Outcomes. By that stage the RUF rebels were less than 20 miles from the capital, although their hold on the rest of the country outside of the main diamond mining areas was intermittent. The RUF then had control of and was asset-stripping most of the mining operations in the country: diamonds, rutile and bauxite. This hit the government's revenue base. EO started by initiating training programmes for the army. EO was run by Eeben Barlow, formerly of the 32nd Battalion of the South African Special Forces, which was active in South Africa's destabilisation policy against its neighbours in the l980s. Many key figures in EO are also from the 32nd Battalion and served in covert operations in Angola and Mozambique. Barlow left EO in l997 but maintains close links with Sierra Leone, Sandline and its affiliated mining house, DiamondWorks, in which he has shares. EO's initial operation involved defending Freetown in collaboration with Nigerian and Ghanaian troops, at a time when it was felt that the capital would fall to the RUF and many expatriates were leaving. A bloody fight on the outskirts of Freetown in May l995 - less than 15 miles away with the gunfire clearly heard in central Freetown - led to a retreat by the RUF despite their pincer-movement attack with thousands of well-armed fighters. EO's operations in Sierra Leone were highly controversial. Many thought that because of their South African connections they were - in effect - sent by Nelson Mandela.

December 1995: EO expanded their operations into rural Sierra Leone, re-taking the diamond mining areas by the end of l995. And EO provided the security which enabled internal refugees to return home. They also started to co-operate with one of the rural militias (the Kamajors) which had emerged to provide a local defence force in the absence of help from the incompetent and corrupt government army. EO's assistance helped the ethnically-based Kamajors (their members were Mendes from the largest ethnic group) to become a powerful fighting and political force; they provided training and logistical support for the militia under the command of Hinga Norman.

Early January 1996: EO also retook the Sierra rutile mine, although the plant was looted by an SLA contingent led by Johnny Paul Koroma. In concert with the Nigerian troops, EO took the war to the RUF, fighting the RUF in its rural redoubt in the Kangari Hills in early l996. Sankoh's forces were badly defeated in a series of set-piece' encounters and quickly initiated peace negotiations with Strasser. Elections were scheduled, after British and American pressure, for 25 February 1996.

16 January 1996: Brigadier General Julius Maada-Bio overthrew Strasser who, he claims, was clinging to power. Many suspected Maada-Bio's motives: his sister, Agnes Deen Jalloh, was a senior member of the rebel RUF. But Maada Bio insisted he would go ahead with the elections as planned and that he did not aim to prolong military rule. He was close to Nigerian military leader Gen. Sani Abacha who had advised him to postpone the handover to civilian rule. Freetown's market women, suspicious that Maada-Bio was conspiring with local politicians to delay the handover to civilian rule, marched through the city and threatened to expose those politicians who had received bribes from the military to postpone the elections.

26 February 1996: Presidential and legislative elections were held, contested by 13 political parties and monitored by international observers. None of the presidential candidates won the required percentage of votes in the first round of the polls.

15 March 1996: In the second round of voting in presidential elections Ahmad Tejan Kabbah leader of the southern-based Sierra Leonean People's Party was elected President with 59.9 per cent of the votes; but the runner-up, John Karefa-Smart, leader of the northern-based United National People's Party, complained of widespread fraud. Kabbah, a self-effacing former UN diplomat who had been out of the country for many years, agreed to keep on the foreign security companies, including South Africa's EO, Britain's Defence Systems Limited, and local affiliates such as Lifeguard (which EO director Eeben Barlow says he owns) and Teleservices. Under Kabbah, EO's training programme for the Kamajors intensified and the militia became an increasingly important force, militarily and politically. Kabbah appointed former Kamajor leader, Hinga Norman, as Deputy Minister of Defence

July 1996: Criticism mounted at the slow pace of change under the Kabbah government. His decision to use the Kamajors as a de facto Presidential guard made him very unpopular with the army, which was increasingly factionalising into loyGlist and pro-rebel groups. Matters were made worse by Kabbah's announcement that he was planning a dramatic reduction in the size of the forces and a retraining programme. Kabbah's critics argued he was kept in power only by the combination of an ethnic militia, South African mercenaries and Nigerian troops.

August 1996: With the Nigerian troops in l996, EO took the war to the RUF: fighting the RUF in its rural redoubt in the southern Kangari Hills in early l996. Sankoh's forces were badly defeated in a series of encounters. They then proposed peace negotiations with Freetown. Sankoh offered serious negotiations and the recognition of Kabbah's government on condition that the EO troops be withdrawn. London-based International Alert positioned itself as a mediator for the RUF, handing out copies of Sankoh's ideological pamphlets to puzzled journalists. International Alert tried to organise talks between the RUF and Kabbah in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire.

September 1996: A public row erupted about the cost of the EO contract to the Kabbah government. EO was charging US$ 1.8 mn a month for the services of less than a hundred personnel, along with two Russian Mi 17 helicopters and logistics. Freetown politicians complained that EO were exacerbating the civil conflict and that there were covert elements in its fees which meant the government was paying well above the US$1.8 mn monthly fee it had declared. There were growing allegations that individuals linked to EO were engaged in illegal diamond extraction and export. The International Monetary Fund, which was pressuring the government to cut spending, told it to reduce payments to EO and improve accountability in the mining sector. Kabbah renegotiated EO's fee down to US$ 1.2 mn. But independent sources reported that the Kabbah government still owed Executive Outcomes US$30 mn in arrears.

October 1996: Reports of its heavy fees and activities in the diamond fields turned public opinion against EO, Lifeguard and the mining companies it was linked to as well. EO's arrival in Sierra Leone had preceded the rapid expansion of the Isle of Man-registered Branch Energy's activities in Sierra Leone's mining sector. Branch Energy's Managing Director, Alan Paterson, was formerly head of Sierra Leone's National Diamond Mining Company. Branch Energy (in which Kabbah's government had a 30 per cent stake) said it had invested US$12 mn. in exploratory mining between 1994-96 - a period in which almost all the other mining companies pulled out. Branch Energy was taken over by Canada's Carson Gold in August 1996; and later that year Vancouver-based DiamondWorks bought 100 per cent of the Branch Energy stake.

November 1996: A peace agreement was signed in Abidjan between the Kabbah government and the RUF. An important provision of the agreement was that EO would leave Sierra Leone by January 1997. But EO's affiliate company, Lifeguard, which was registered in Sierra Leone, renewed its security contracts with several mining companies.

January 1997: Executive Outcomes formally withdrew from Sierra Leone. The Kabbah government established a power-sharing multi-party cabinet. The rebel RUF was also supposed to participate indirectly in government through a series of peace, reconciliation and demobilisation commissions. But Kabbah's administration was damaged by indecision and drift. Worst of all was its handling of the military. The army was due to be substantially reduced in size under a plan drawn up by British military advisors. Junior officers were accused of a number of coup attempts in late l996 and early 1997. Kabbah was increasingly reliant on the Kamajor militias for his security and ever more distant from the SLA. The Nigerian army maintained two battalions of troops in Freetown.

February 1997: Kabbah announced that a Nigerian-led security investigation had pinpointed members of the previous Maada-Bio government as coup plotters. RUF leader Foday Sankoh flew to Nigeria, apparently on an official mission. But he was arrested soon after his arrival and held under surveillance in the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja.

April 1997: After a row within the main opposition party, the UNPP, the government suspended its leader, Karefa-Smart, from parliament for a year.

25 May l997: Major Johnny Paul Koroma,33, led a successful coup d'etat against the Kabbah government. Kabbah's Nigerian and Kamajor guards appear to have been surprised and the President was airlifted out to Conakry in neighbouring Guinea. Maj. Koroma was a poorly educated soldier who had been over-promoted with the rapid army expansion of the early l990s. Fearful that he would be dismissed when the army was 'down-sized', he had already been implicated in one coup plot. Earlier Koroma had also been involved in corrupt accumulation, including asset-stripping of the rutile mining operation. He put together a ramshackle military junta amidst widespread popular unrest against his intervention. Dressed in a tee-shirt and baseball cap, barely articulate, he made an unprepossessing head of state. After the coup, there were days of looting by soldiers who commandeered cars and persecuted members of Tejan Kabbah's party. The Ministry of Finance was torched.

28 May 1997: An attempt by Nigerian troops to oust the Koroma junta ended in fiasco after Nigerian troops and foreigners were trapped in the Mammy Yoko Hotel in Freetown and surrounded by junta forces. Some South African soldiers working with Lifeguard fought alongside the Nigerians to try to force back the junta soldiers. Foday Sankoh gave interviews to the BBC from his hotel room in Abuja, praising the overthrow of Kabbah. Koroma declared that Sankoh was the ideological leader of his coup; Nigerian officials moved Sankoh from the Sheraton Hotel to a local security installation. British High Commissioner to Freetown Peter Penfold successfully escorted several hundred foreigners out of the city after negotiating with junta officials and threatening (without any likelihood of it happening) that US troops would intervene unless the foreigners were let through.

1 June 1997: Maj. Koroma invited the rebel RUF to join his junta and the feared RUF fighters came to town to misrule in the name of the merged 'People's Army'. Koroma's junta was internationally isolated, an unstable, brutal, populist regime. Its main military challenge was from the Kamajors and from the Nigerian troops who maintained their military bases north of Freetown and on Lungi Island.

July 1997: Kabbah was described as a 'rabbit caught in a car's headlights' at the time of the coup by one of his associates. Invited to set up a government in exile in Conakry he failed to do so. Instead he was surrounded by a group of Sierra Leonean politicians of dubious credibility, Nigerian military advisors and security men. Also spending time in Conakry were a group of supportive UN and international community figures - and British High Commissioner Penfold. Nigeria moved 4,000 troops from its operations in Liberia to Freetown.

Kabbah then opened discussions with Indian-born Thai banker Rakesh Saxena who offered to provide up to $10 million in finance for a counter-coup in return for Sierra Leonean diamond concessions. Saxena contacted Colonel Tim Spicer of Sandline International and commissioned on 3 July an intelligence assessment of the military and political situation in Sierra Leone. Spicer claims that he has a 'very good' relationship with Kabbah and with the Nigerian-led Ecomog force; he asked Saxena for $70,000 for the first week's work and said that further intelligence work would be charged at a rate of $10,000 a week. A four-nation nation committee of Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea and Ghana was formed by the sub-regional Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) to negotiate a return to constitutional rule with the Koroma junta. The four-nation Ecowas committee imposed an embargo on military supplies to the Koroma junta; the Nigerian navy mounted a naval blockade of Freetown and told the junta to clear any cargo ship with Ecowas officials first. The UN Security Council met, condemned the coup and endorsed Ecowas measures to resolve the crisis through diplomatic means and sanctions. In Resolution UNSC1132 it imposed a ban on arms shipments to all parties in Sierra Leone.

August 1997: A number of businessmen approached Kabbah with offers to finance an operation to reinstate his civilian government. They included Chief Executive of American Mineral Fields (AMF) Jean-Raymond Boulle, whose company played a key role in financing the successful rebellion against Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaïre earlier in 1997. AMF has a majority stake in Nord resources, a major mining house in Sierra Leone. Among the companies offering security services to Kabbah were Defence Systems Limited and Sandline, both based in London and with strong links to the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence.

September 1997: With Kabbah winning increasing diplomatic support from the British government, there was an invitation to the Commonwealth Conference in Edinburgh in October 1997 - as the guest of Prime Minister Tony Blair - and British government funding for conferences on a 90-day reconstruction plan later that month. Much of this was pushed forward by High Commissioner Penfold, rather than Kabbah and his advisors. British policy was driven as much by enthusiasm to return Kabbah and a constitutional government to power in Sierra Leone as by concern that Nigeria's Gen. Abacha was posing (bizarrely) as a guardian of democracy in Sierra Leone. Also Whitehall fearred that the Abacha regime had plans for a type of pro-consul role in Sierra Leone if it was able to restore Kabbah to power.

October 1997: Nigeria's Foreign Minister Tom Ikimi stepped up his country's diplomatic role after the Nigerian navy and Air Force had tightened the embargo on Freetown. The Koroma junta accused the Nigerian air force of bombing civilian targets. Liberian soldiers detained a plane at Spriggs Payne Airport, Monrovia, which was found to be carrying several South African mercenaries working for EO, some Kamajor militia men and assorted arms and military equipment. After pressure from Nigerian troops in the Ecowas peace-keeping operation in the country, the Liberian officials released the plane. President Charles Taylor and most of his cabinet had remained highly sympathetic to the Koroma junta.

Another round of negotiations between the Koroma junta and the Ecowas Committee on 22-23 October produced a peace treaty of sorts and a promise by Koroma's ministers that the junta would hand over to civilians by 22 April 1998. Nigeria lauded this as a great diplomatic breakthrough and requested an invitation to the Commonwealth Conference in Edinburgh on 24-27 October (Nigeria's membership of the Commonwealth was suspended in November 1995 after its military government executed Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists). Kabbah attended the Commonwealth meeting, yet his officials admitted they had no knowledge of the Nigerian-brokered deal with Koroma and were skeptical about its viability.

November 1997: Several plans for the ousting of the Koroma regime were floated. Efforts were made to interest South African officials in the plan and to win the Organisation for African Unity's backing. A secret mission to South Africa ended in fiasco after a Nigerian plane and its crew are impounded on landing at a military airbase near Pretoria. South Africa declined a request to provide air-logistical support for a Nigerian operation to oust Koroma; Pretoria's military advisors feared huge casualties in Freetown should such an operation have gone ahead.

December 1997: After discussions with Penfold, a meeting is arranged between Kabbah and Sandline International. They propose a plan to Kabbah and financier Boulle for the ousting of Koroma. But Boulle, a commercial rival of DiamondWorks, was unconvinced. Instead Rakesh Saxena made a definitive offer to finance the overthrow of Koroma, following his receipt of intelligence submitted by Tim Spicer in August. Saxena paid $1.5 million to Sandline as the first instalment of the operation. His second instalment was held up after Canadian police arrested him in Vancouver on charges of being in possession of a forged Yugoslavian passport.

28 January 1998: Penfold visited Sandline's Office in Kings Road, Chelsea for a briefing on the development of its military plan in Sierra Leone.

February 1998: A Nigerian-backed offensive by the Kamajors began in south-east Sierra Leone. Sandline provided intelligence and logistical support for the operation and flew an attack helicopter in the area. President Taylor accused Nigerian troops in Ecomog of transiting South African mercenaries across his territory. The Ecowas Committee of Four, led by Tom Ikimi, travelled to New York to brief the UN Security Council about progress on negotiations with the Koroma junta and the prospects for its handing over by 22 April. When questioned about reports of a Nigerian led-offensive against the Koroma junta, Ikimi denied it and dismissed the fighting as isolated skirmishes. No attempt was made to inform the Security Council about what was really going on in Sierra Leone or to seek its endorsement. As such the operation to oust Koroma was illegal under the terms of the UN resolution. However, within days Nigerian-led Ecomog troops launched an assault on Freetown.

15 February 1998: The Koroma junta was put to flight after less than a week of fighting in Freetown and Nigerian troops took over the government in Freetown, saying they had to stabilise the security situation before Kabbah's return. A British Foreign Office official expressed disappointment that the Nigerian forces didn't inform the UN Security Council of what they were up to as they would 'probably' have won approval for the plan. When asked at a Foreign Office reception what he thought of the Nigerian-led ousting of the Koroma junta, Minister of State for Africa Tony Lloyd replied 'Two cheers'.

2 March: The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group met in London about the situation in Sierra Leone and Nigeria. Lloyd insisted that the Nigerian action in Freetown was illegal but Ghanaian Foreign Minister Victor Gbeho said it was fully backed by Ecowas and that the Commonwealth should support it.

6 March 1998: The newsletter Africa Confidential published a report on the detailed planning between Sandline, Kabbah and Nigerian forces and on the financing of the counter-coup and it pointed to the involvement of Penfold as a key player in the plan. Africa Confidential said that the way Koroma was ousted had raised awkward questions for Foreign Secretary Robin Cook's 'ethical foreign policy' and its ban on military cooperation with Abacha's government. Later that day the Foreign Office confirmed that Penfold had met with Sandline about Sierra Leone.

10 March 1998: British Customs & Excise launched an investigation into Sandline's role in Sierra Leone, in particular claims that it had illegally shipped arms there.

12 March 1998: In a parliamentary debate on Sierra Leone, Tony Lloyd made no reference to the ongoing customs investigation into allegedly illegal arms shipments to Sierra Leone, the foreknowledge of his officials about the counter-coup or the involvement of Sandline. Instead he condemned press reports as 'scurrilous' and 'ill-informed'.

30 March 1998: Andrew Breaden, an inspector with the British Customs intelligence unit requested a meeting with Sandline Director Michael Grunberg about possible illegal arms shipments to Sierra Leone.

3 April 1998: Customs investigators searched Sandline's premises at 535 Kings Road, London and two of Spicer's houses. They took away paper and computer records relating to the Sierra Leone operation. Customs investigators requested Guernsey-based Hansard Management, which handles Sandline's administrative and financial affairs, to hand over documentation relating to the company's security operations.

24 April 1998: Sandline's solicitors, S J Berwin & Co, wrote to Foreign Secretary Cook on behalf of Spicer and Grunberg to complain of harassment by British Customs about arms shipments to Sierra Leone. The letter argues that from the beginning its operations in Sierra Leone were known about by both Foreign Office officials in Whitehall and High Commissioner Penfold in Freetown.

The South African Navy’s frigates and submarines are operational, with the submarine SAS Manthatisi being the only exception, as it is out of service and awaiting a new battery.

Minister of Defence and Military Veterans gave the operational readiness update to the Navy’s vessels in a reply to a parliamentary question by M A Mncwango of the Inkatha Freedom Party.

She stated that the frigate SAS Mendi is within the planned operational cycle and recently returned to Simon’s Town having returned from a four month deployment in the Mozambique Channel as part of Operation Copper. “On completion of this assignment the SAS Mendi returned to Simon’s Town and her crew is currently enjoying operational leave,” Sisulu stated. “In accordance with the Maintenance Upkeep Plan SAS Mendi will be entering an extended maintenance period in May 2012. Such scheduled maintenance periods always require the use of the dry dock to enable standard maintenance on the hull.”

The frigate SAS Amatola and submarine SAS Queen Modjadji 1 are operationally available and recently took part in Exercise Good Hope V with the German Naval Forces last month.

The frigate SAS Isandlwana, which had been on patrol off Mozambique, returned to Simon’s Town in mid-March as a consequence of participating in Exercise Good Hope V with the German navy. The fleet support vessel SAS Drakensberg has subsequently been despatched to the Mozambique Channel to replace the Isandlwana.

This is not the first time that the Drakensberg has been deployed for anti-piracy operations. The Drakensburg, accompanied by the Mendi and the submarine SAS Charlotte Maxeke, visited Tanzania in September last year to conduct joint exercises with the Tanzanian navy as well as perform anti-piracy patrols.

According to Sisulu, the submarine SAS Manthatisi is presently still in reserve as was reported to the Portfolio Committee on Defence on the 17 November 2010. “A complete new battery has been ordered and will be delivered towards the latter part of the year. This submarine is now also serving as the “first in class” to be scheduled for a planned refit; whilst establishing an indigenous and in-house refit capability.”

SAS Manthatisi has been held in reserve since October 2007 but serves as a platform for training and for planning of maintenance, repair and refit (overhaul) purposes. There have been several incidents involving the Manthatisi. The first occurred when the submarine was in harbour and plugged into a shore service to keep its 250 tons of batteries charged. Someone connected the submarine to this “the wrong way round", blowing fuses in the submarine, apparently because the wires had not been marked properly. The sailor responsible was disciplined.

In another incident, in rough weather the vessel “banged” into a quay, causing minor damage to the aft plane, which helps steer and trim the submarine underwater. A third issue involved the efficiency of the batteries. When being charged, the batteries produced hydrogen and the build-up of the gas damaged some of the submarine’s batteries, of which there are 480. The problem had been solved by introducing hydrogen release valves and the manufacturer had given the undertaking that some of the damaged units would be replaced free of charge.

The Manthatisi is the lead-boat of class of three submarines acquired for R8.1 billion as part of Project Wills, a component of the Strategic Defence Package. She was laid down at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, Thyssen Nordsee Werke, Kiel on May 22, 2001, and arrived in South African waters in April 2006.

The submarine SAS Charlotte Maxeke is fully operational “and serves within the planned operational cycle for this type of vessel,” according to Sisulu. “This submarine and her sister-submarine, the SAS Queen Modjadji 1, have exceeded the expectations with regard to their availability and utilisation for operational utilisation.”

“None of the vessels, excluding the submarine SAS Mathatisi, are presently ‘out of service’. They are all being managed within the approved SA Navy Maintenance and Upkeep Programme (MUP) and as part of the Short and medium term Force Employment Plan. All issues regarding the SAS Manthatisi have been reported extensively and she will in due course once again provide our country with valuable service at sea, whilst the next submarine will enter a refit phase.”

South Africa and Germany yesterday wrapped up the joint naval exercise Good Hope V, which was commanded by South Africans for the first time.

The large-scale exercise between the South African Navy, Air Force and the German Navy takes place off the waters of South Africa on a biennial basis. It is the largest undertaken by the German Task Force Group outside of its NATO obligations.

This year, however, financial considerations and the counter piracy commitments of both navies have meant that Exercise Good Hope V was scaled down when compared to previous years. The aim of Exercise Good Hope V was to conduct exercises that would facilitate the sharing of expertise in general and anti-piracy operations in particular, thus enhancing the SA Navy’s capability in terms of anti-piracy operations within the Mozambican channel.

As Captain Micky Girsa, Commander Combined Maritime Task Group and Commanding Officer of SAS Amatola, explained, “although the global objective of Good Hope exercises between the German and South African forces has always been to conduct joint multi-national exercises focused on conventional warfare, this specific interaction has focused more on the asymmetric threat of anti-piracy.”

“This in itself is a first,” he continued. For Exercise Good Hope V, the German Navy was represented by FSG Lübeck, a frigate returning from Operation Atalanta, the European Union’s Naval Force counter-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin. The Lübeck is equipped with two Lynx Mk 88 helicopters and a Marine boarding team.

The Lübeck was to join SAS Isandlwana, the South African frigate involved with anti-piracy operations in the Mozambique Channel (Operation Copper), with the two vessels sailing south from Durban to Simon’s Town together. The Isandlwana is equipped with a Super Lynx maritime helicopter. However, Lübeck’s arrival in Durban was delayed by two days due to tropical cyclone Irene. The crew of the Lübeck had to endure wind speeds of up to 80 knots (150 km/h) with eight metre swells.

The two frigates eventually left Durban on 9 March and performed numerous sea exercises during their passage to the Simon’s Town naval base in Cape Town. These exercises included a strong emphasis on anti-piracy operations. The requirement for such exercises was brought home when, whilst on patrol off Somalia in January, the Lübeck forced Somali pirates to release an Indian dhow with 15 Indian mariners held as hostages.

Other exercises included boarding operations (from both boats and helicopters), Maritime Domain Awareness, simulated anti-ship missile firings and seamanship and manoeuvring exercises. Time was also spent on gunnery from the ships and helicopters.

Boarding teams consisting of Special Forces and Maritime Reaction Squadron personnel from South Africa as well as Marines from Germany. These units operated as mixed teams and according to both South African and German officers, no problems were experienced and all members worked well together.

However, conventional warfare was not ignored because, as Girsa clarified, “this would be foolish on both parts.”

Once they had reached Cape waters, the Task Group was joined by the South African frigate SAS Amatola and submarine SAS Queen Modjadji 1. Together with an Air Force C-47 TP Dakota maritime patrol aircraft, the Task Group undertook numerous anti-submarine warfare sorties for the benefit of the ships, helicopters and submarine. This included engagement of simulated hostile surface vessels found and identified by the Dakota.

“Amongst all the serials mentioned, one of the highlights was the inclusion of a Dipper [Lynx equipped with a dipping sonar],” Girsa espoused. “This profound ability proved to be advantageous and of great value to the combined force, especially the submarine who was tasked to evade detection and engage the force as best as possible.”

This was ably done by SAS Queen Modjadji 1, commanded by Cdr Neville Howell. Operating under home-town advantage, he was able to surprise the German participants by being extremely evasive.

“The submarine gave us a hard time trying to find them!” exclaimed Capt Eike Wetters, commander of the German Navy Task Group. This, he explained, was because the submarine took advantage of the deep water and varying temperatures at different depths.

Wetters said that it was not enough to perform anti-submarine training on simulators as live exercises were required for optimal experience. “From the German side, we are very happy to have…these anti-submarine warfare exercises. You need live exercises with a real submarine.”

Girsa concluded that as proud as he was of the South African forces that were placed under his operational control for this exercise, “I must state that it has been only a pleasure operating with the German ship Lubeck and all her affiliations. They are indeed professional in every aspect and an asset to the German Navy.”

To which Wetters added, “overall, Exercise Good Hope has been of great value, was planned and professionally led by the South African Navy and successfully conducted by all participants.”

Planning is already proceeding for Exercise Good Hope VI, which will be held in 2014.

“Despite financial pressure and training for several other operational commitments, it has been and still is the German Navy’s (commitment)...to maintain the momentum of this exercise series. I stress that because we have had to scale down the German contingent to a lone frigate here, this exercise…has been a success from our point of view, stressing that it is not always the number that counts, it’s the quality of the training,” concluded Wetters.

The current exercise concludes on 25 March, after which the Lübeck returns to Germany.

The South African Air Force (SAAF) is for the first time taking part in Exercise Lion Effort in Sweden, a tactical exercise intended to enhance interoperability between Gripen user countries. Four SAAF Gripens are among 30 of the fighters from Sweden, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Lion Effort kicked off on Tuesday and is scheduled to run to April 5. The initial phase of the exercise consists of familiarisation flights, with the main exercise elements taking place between April 1 and 4. Familiarisation flights include visual identification (VID) exercises, 1 vs 1 and 2 vs 2 air-to-air engagements, and close air support (CAS) missions. During the familiarisation phase the participants are flying in three waves per day.

The exercise is being held in an operational area 70 by 200 nautical miles in size and involves around 300 people. Missions will be flown both by single-nation formations and in composite air operations, in which pilots from the different Gripen squadrons co-operate together. Various ground and seaborne assets will also participate in the exercise over the Baltic Sea. Aircraft began assembling at Ronneby, Sweden, for the exercise earlier this week, and began familiarisation flights yesterday.

The four SAAF Gripens taking part in Lion Effort are the last four to be handed over to the air force, and they have been held back in Sweden so that the SAAF can participate in the exercise with its own machines. On October 8 last year South Africa received its penultimate Gripen shipment when four C models arrived in Cape Town harbour. South Africa has nine two-seat (D model) and 17 single-seat (C model) Gripens on order.

“It’s a magnificent training opportunity for us,” said Colonel Pierre Venter, SAAF contingent commander, “and it is unique in the sense of its format and our ability to be here.” Although the aircraft were already in Sweden, the SAAF contingent arrived at the start of the week and has established itself quickly, Saab reports.

“After our third day in the field here, I’m very happy to send communications back home that we’re ready for the first flying,” said Venter. “Many of our contingent have not travelled abroad before. Coming here has been all just positive. It’s brought out a lot of good character.”

Venter said the SAAF was in the early stages of building up a Gripen capability and would benefit from operating alongside more experienced users. “Through the exercise we can benchmark, learn, share, and get exposure for handling the platform, and how we approach deployments.”

The South African contingent has 40 members (including fighter pilots from 2 Squadron), plus three technical representatives and a test pilot from Saab, who are in Sweden as part of the ongoing Gripen technical support package. “We have set up a deployment capability,” said Venter, “and the Saab element here is the interface for problem solving, spares and technical solutions.”

As well as flight and maintenance personnel, the contingent includes other branches of the SAAF, such as representatives from the communications, flight safety, finance and legal sectors.

For Venter, now commander of the Air Force Command and Control School, the exercise provides an opportunity to come back to the country where he was defence attaché for four years. “I was involved in some of the planning conferences for the exercise,” said Venter. “Now, stepping back into this contingent commander’s role, seeing the components in action, is magnificent.”

The South African Air Force said the exercise will provide the fighter line with much needed exposure, test the operational deployment ability of the Gripen and training of air and ground crews in multinational operations.

It added that by participating in this exercise the SAAF and South African National Defence Force will be exposed to Composite Air Operations (CAMAO) training, Large Force Employment and Offensive and Defensive Air Support. “This exposure and the knowledge gained will benefit the SAAF and the SANDF for future operations in Africa.”

For Lion Effort the Czech Republic sent three aircraft (two Cs and a D) from 211 Squadron at Cáslav’s 21st Air Base, together with three Aero L-159 light combat aircraft. Saab notes that the Czech air force passed the 10 000-hour milestone with its 14 Gripen C/Ds in September 2010, and a year later Major Otakar Prikner became the first Czech pilot to pass the 1 000-hour mark. In the lead-up to the exercise two Czech pilots qualified for in-flight refuelling. They operated from Ronneby and refuelled from the Swedish air force’s TP 84T Hercules tanker.

“It’s a perfect opportunity to co-operate within the Gripen nations,” said Czech Major Petr Michenka. “We can share experiences and co-operation across a wide scale now.”

Shortly after Lion Effort the Czech air force plans to return to Sweden with three Gripen Cs for a live-firing campaign at the Vidsel range in the north.

Hungary has sent five aircraft from the ‘Puma’ squadron of the 59th Tactical Fighter Wing at Kecskemét. The Hungarian Gripens arrived at Ronneby from Vidsel in northern Sweden, from where they conducted a firing campaign over the surrounding test range with AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. On January 30 Hungary announced that it would extend its leasing agreement for 12 Gripen Cs and two Gripen Ds for another 10 years from 2016.

Although Thailand is not flying aircraft in the exercise, observers are taking an active interest in the daily operations, acquiring knowledge that they can take back to the Royal Thai Air Force. Thailand acquired an initial batch of six Gripens, which was officially declared as operational in July last year. The country has ordered a second batch of six Gripens, to be delivered in 2013.

Around 15 Swedish Gripens are participating in the exercise. They come from both the home wing (F 17) at Ronneby and the Tactical and Operational Evaluation Unit (TUJAS) at Malmen. The Swedish Air Force has experience from Operation Karakal, the Swedish contribution to NATO’s Operation Unified Protector over Libya. Gripens flew air policing and reconnaissance missions during Karakal, marking the aircraft’s combat debut.

One of Sweden’s Saab 340 Erieye airborne warning and control aircraft is also scheduled to take part in the exercise.

The first Lion Effort exercise was held in 2009 in Hungary, and the next one is planned for 2015 in the Czech Republic.

South Africa’s shipbuilding industry says it is still capable of locally building the new vessels required by the South African Navy, with a number of local companies competing to build inshore and offshore patrol vessels for Project Biro.

A request for information for Biro-category vessels was issued last year and the navy expects to issue a request for quotations before the end of this year. The Navy also has the proposed Project Millennium landing dock ship requirement and Project Hotel requirement for a new hydrographic survey vessel.

Rear Admiral Bernhard Teuteberg, Chief Director Maritime Strategy of the South African Navy (SAN), told Defenceweb at the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium last week that a decision had been made on the ministerial level to build the Project Biro medium-sized vessels in South Africa. “And it’s written in the specs”, Teuteberg said, “so it’s very clearly understood by everybody. I have no doubt about it.”

For Biro, Nautic Africa (formerly KND Projects) is offering the Gowind class offshore patrol vessels, which, according to CEO James Fisher, “are the most modern vessels being offered to the Navy.”

In September last year it was announced that DCNS and KND Naval Design (which contracts work to Nautic Africa) had signed a memorandum of understanding for the promotion, construction and sale of Gowind vessels in South Africa. The Gowind class vessel L’Adroit is currently being trialled by the French Navy and will visit South Africa in September.

Fisher said he was excited about offering the Gowind class to the Navy as the Project Biro requirements match it perfectly. “We are very confident in our offering,” Fisher said, as Nautic Africa is a local company that produces vessels on time and budget.

For the Inshore Patrol Vessel (IPV) component of Biro, Nautic Africa has a partnership with Austal in Australia to built under license their Cape Class patrol vessels. Australia’s Customs and Border Protection service recently ordered eight of the type, which will be delivered in 2013, with the full fleet becoming operational in 2015.

The 58 metre long Cape Class vessels will be able to undertake 28 day patrols, have a range of 4 000 nautical miles and simultaneously launch two boats. Armament comprises two deck mounted heavy machineguns. Top speed is 25 knots.

“It’s a commercial no-brainer that that business should be done in South Africa,” Fisher said, referring to Project Biro and other work. “We should be supplying all vessels in Africa at this stage.” Fisher was confident in the abilities of his company to produce vessels of European-standard quality, but at a 30% cheaper rate. However, he emphasised the fact that lifetime support is just as important – if not more so – than initial acquisition cost.

Fisher told defenceWeb that Nautic Africa not only designs and constructs ships but also offers long-term support and assistance throughout the whole life cycle of a vessel, including training, construction, delivery, maintenance and overhaul. He said that many of the ships bought from Asia by African countries have shortcomings, especially with regard to maintenance and spares – indeed, Fisher believes this is the greatest shortcoming of many foreign vessels. Indeed, Teuteberg said that, “only 20 percent of the cost of an OPV is acquisition. Eighty percent goes into the life-cycle of that vessel. We have to ensure that we have the ability in South Africa, to maintain, redevelop if necessary, where necessary, in time.”

If a contract with the Navy is signed, Nautic Africa will partner with the MK Veteran’s Association, which is “a group that has been ignored,” according to Fisher. At the Defence Industry Day in Pretoria on March 22, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Lindiwe Sisulu said she wants to see more military veterans employed in the local defence industry, in addition to increased black economic empowerment.

She said the defence industry should look at ways and means to incorporate more military veterans into the industry’s economic stream by offering employment and/or training and by doing business with military veterans-linked organisations. “Before we give out any tender we should ensure that military veterans are taken care of.”

Outside of Africa, Fisher said he saw opportunity for Nautic Africa in Mozambique and Tanzania with the new oil and gas finds there. In addition, Nigeria and Ghana have bought 11 patrol/oil and gas support vessels from Nautic Africa and have another five on order. However, a big problem is the lack of funds hampering navies in the region, as many smaller countries in Africa cannot afford vessels to protect against piracy, illegal fishing and other challenges at sea. Indeed, the chief of the South African Navy, Vice Admiral Refiloe Johannes Mudimu, said that a lack of vessels was the greatest challenge navies in the region faced when combating maritime insecurity. Nautic Africa hopes to overcome the financial barrier through financing packages.

In addition, Nautic Africa is busy refurbishing a South Africa Navy Namacurra class harbour patrol boat for Mozambique as part of the Navy’s initiative to strengthen the Mozambican navy. The SAN has also trained Mozambican personnel as South Africa seeks to control piracy and other maritime threats in the region.

Meanwhile, Southern African Shipyards is in partnership with Germany’s Lurssen to offer its vessels to the South African Navy. Prasheen Maharaj, Executive Director of the company, told defenceWeb that the main offering for Biro is the Lurssen Patrol Vessel PV 80, with a length of 80 metres, a speed of 22 knots and a displacement of 1 625 t. The ship comes equipped with a flight deck and can launch and recover a boat from a stern dock. Four of these vessels have been built, including three for Brunei.

“We’re the biggest shipyard in southern Africa. We have the best capability without further investment,” Maharaj said, emphasising the company’s previous capabilities, including the construction of the SAS Drakensberg supply vessel and the Navy’s strike craft and minehunters. “We have the ability to meet South Africa’s shipbuilding needs.” However, he added that, “some of these needs require partnerships,” such as for the Biro requirement.

For Project Hotel, Maharaj said that his company is leaving itself open to be a local subcontractor to the preferred prime contractor.

Another local company, Veecraft Marine, has partnered with the German firm Abeking & Rasmussen for Projects Biro and Hotel. According to Friedrich Jacobi, Chief Representative of Abeking & Rasmussen, the partnership is offering its SWATH Offshore Patrol Boat. The Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) design features torpedo-like hull bodies that are submerged while the rest of the shp remains above water to provide excellent stability and high speeds in rough seas. Abeking & Rasmussen’s SWATH range features vessels from 25 to 75 metres in length.

Recently the company sold 25 metre long SWATH vessels to the Latvian Navy. The model has a crew of 8, endurance of 1 week, range of 1 000 nautical miles and a speed of 20 knots. Due to the twin-hull design, a 20 foot container with a maximum weight of 6 t can be mounted in between the hulls and changed within a couple of hours depending on the mission. Weapons options include two heavy machineguns and one 35 mm gun. The same model is being offered for the Inshore Patrol Vessel component of Biro while a 70 metre long vessel with a helicopter deck is being offered for the Offshore Patrol Vessel component.

If Veecraft/Abeking & Rasmussen receive contracts from the South African Navy, Abeking & Rasmussen will build the first ship in Germany to prove that all systems meet specifications, while the remainder of the ships will be built in South Africa.

Veecraft has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Navantia to market its Avante class offshore and inshore patrol vessels to the South African Navy. The Avante 3000 Patrol vessel has a length of 93 metres, accommodation for 70 people, a range of 8 000 nautical miles and an endurance of 35 days. A flight deck and hangar provide space for a medium helicopter while cranes can deploy and retrieve two rigid hull inflatable boats. Armament includes a 76/62 mm gun, two 25 mm weapons stations, and two 12.7 mm machine guns.

Apart from Biro, Southern African Shipyards is supplying two tugboats for the Simons Town naval base under Project Canter.

“It will be practicable to build all the patrol vessels in South Africa, to existing designs,” said Jane’s Information Group correspondent Helmoed Heitman. “That will reduce the negative impact of the expenditure and could establish a ship-building industry to support the offshore oil and gas industry in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

The South African Army has held a technology seminar at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria.

The CSIR's Defence, Peace, Safety and Security (DPSS) unit hosted the conference and an exhibition to the land service to showcase technologies that may be impacting on it in the medium to longer term (five to 20 years).

The two-day event, which ended yesterday, addressed nine key areas: full spectrum protection, firepower and engagement, soldier systems, communications and communications electronics warfare, battle space awareness and sensors, mobility, autonomous and remotely controlled systems, command and control, as well as technologies for force planning and design.

Brigadier General Lawrence Smith, General Officer Commanding 43 South African Brigade, said the conference would prepare the top structure of the SA Army for the future. “It gets them acquainted with the newest developments [in technology worldwide]” and improves their situational awareness in light of the draft consultative Defence Review released last week. “The focus is to provide background to direct short, medium and long-term technology development...”

This document states the “intention of government is to maintain and further develop South Africa’s defence industry as a key national asset, and all national departments will be required to invest in the process and will utilise the industry’s capabilities.”

Elsewhere, it cautions the “rapidly changing strategic environment requires [the military] to constantly adapt to new demands. This requires a balanced military force that can execute its function in pursuit of national security in the most efficient and effective way possible, across the spectrum of the defence mission, strategic tasks and strategic goals. Flexibility thus becomes an imperative.”

The acquisition focus of the South African National Defence Force in the near term will be on crisis response, border security and force projection as well as sustainment in a peace support context. That's the word from the 2012 Defence Review, released last Thursday.

“Prioritisation of defence acquisition is driven by the interaction between the evolving strategic situation and the composition and equipment state of the Defence Force,” it reads. “This is, therefore, also an evolving process during which priorities will be adapted to match operational requirements.”

From the medium term onwards, it will be necessary to re-equip the medium and heavy forces and the relevant supporting elements to ensure that they retain deterrent credibility and provide deployable peace enforcement and conflict containment capability. “Some of the projects to meet medium term requirements will have to commence during the near term to ensure that those capabilities are available in the medium term, partly because of the numbers required (for instance of vehicles, which are optimally built and delivered over an extended period) and partly because of long lead times (for instance in building and commissioning ships).”


Immediate capability enhancement

Capabilities that need immediate work, the review reads, include extending the Special Forces (SF). “Terrorism and paramilitary threats will be a factor that South Africa must reckon with in the near term and over the coming decades, both in the context of South Africa’s expanded regional security role and as direct challenges or threats. Countering those challenges or threats will require enhancing and expanding the capabilities of the SF by enhancing Special Forces capability requires acquisition of additional equipment, weapons and systems, which may include a small number of dedicated aircraft of several types for insertion/extraction operations; and expanding SF capability requires establishment of additional units focused on particular missions, for instance urban counter-terrorism, and the acquisition of the relevant equipment, weapons and systems.”

A second challenge is border safeguarding. “The Defence Force has been assigned the mission of border safeguarding. This will require establishing additional units, and acquisition of equipment, weapons and systems optimised for that role, including agile, protected patrol vehicles; surveillance equipment, such as fixed and mobile acoustic, optronic and radar sensors and unmanned air vehicles, particularly micro-UAVs for patrol-level use; a static backbone communications system integrated with tactical air/ground and Police communications systems; non-lethal weapons of several kinds; and a data collation/fusion system to facilitate intelligence-led operations.”

Third is airspace surveillance and protection. “A related requirement is for enhanced air space surveillance and protection, which will require acquisition of static, mobile and airborne radar systems able to acquire and track aircraft flying low and using terrain-masking; and aircraft able to intercept and shadow suspect aircraft flying at low altitudes and low speeds.”

Next follows extended maritime security. “The expansion of Somali-based piracy into the Mozambique Channel has highlighted the importance and urgency of expanding South Africa’s maritime security capability. The immediate requirements include maritime surveillance or patrol aircraft; offshore patrol vessels; inshore patrol craft; additional shipboard helicopters; and equipment for shoreline patrols.”

Fourth follows a crisis response capability. “South Africa’s expanding regional security responsibilities require the development of an effective crisis response capability beyond that inherent in Special Forces. This requires acquisition of suitable equipment and weapons for the parachute and air-landed battalion groups, including protected vehicles that can be transported by medium transport aircraft and light vehicles that can be delivered by parachute; expansion and rejuvenation of the medium airlift capability; establishment of a heavy/long-range airlift capability that, together with the expanded medium airlift capability, will enable the Defence Force to deploy a parachute battalion group or an air-landed battalion group within 48 hours from South Africa to anywhere within the continental SADC region, to support local forces; or a forward base within the SADC continental SADC region to anywhere in a contiguous country.” It further requires the establishment of an in-flight refuelling capability to enable effective fighters support for crisis response deployments; and to enable extended range Special Forces operations.


Urgent capability enhancement

Urgent capability enhancement requirements exist where Defence Force lacks adequate capability to perform likely near/medium term missions, and where existing equipment is obsolete and must be replaced if key capabilities are to be retained, the review avers.

There are seven capability areas involved:

Infantry Combat Vehicles. The mechanised infantry battalions have wide utility, being suited to peacekeeping in high-risk situations and to peace enforcement, and forming a key element of deterrent capability. The Ratel vehicle family is obsolete, old (30 years) and difficult to maintain, and must be replaced urgently if the mechanised infantry is to remain credible and effective. [Project Hoefyster]

Armoured Personnel Carriers. Armoured personnel carriers are the main equipment of the motorised infantry battalions, which form the core of peace-support capability, and are vital elements of other units, including the medical battalion groups of the Military Health Service. There are three related requirements for new APCs: The Casspir and Mamba armoured personnel carriers of the motorised infantry no longer provide adequate protection against weapons available to irregular forces and bandits, are old (30 years) and difficult to maintain, and must be replaced urgently if these units are to remain effective; the Mfezi protected ambulances of the medical battalion groups are equally old and difficult to maintain, and must also be replaced; and the spread of improvised explosive devices into Africa further means that there is a requirement for ‘mine-resistant/ambush-protected’ (MRAP) patrol vehicles and personnel carriers to equip a proportion of these units. [Project Sapula]/Sepula]

Logistic Vehicles. No defence force can function without reliable logistic vehicles that are suited to the nature of its operations and the terrain of the theatre of operations. The existing Samil fleet of trucks is old (30 years) and difficult to maintain, and will lack the mobility to effectively support modern combat vehicles. “The bulk of the fleet must be replaced with suitable vehicles, including protected variants, as a matter of urgency.” [Project Vistula]

Light Artillery. Several recent conflicts in Africa have demonstrated an escalation in the capability and level of aggression of the forces involved, including serious attacks on peacekeeping units. “The Army needs light artillery that can be deployed quickly as a part of a rapid deployment peace support contingent, to provide counter-battery and defensive fires to protect airfields and bases. It currently has no such artillery, although a suitable 105 mm long-range gun and ammunition family are in development.” [Project Musuku/Masuku]

Aerial Weapons. “The Air Force must urgently acquire suitable weapons for the Gripen, the Hawk (in its alternate light attack role) and the Rooivalk if these aircraft are to be able to support ground forces effectively.”

Combat Support Ships. The extension of the Navy’s area of operations to include the Mozambique Channel and its approaches, and the likelihood of a further extension to counter piracy along the west coast of Africa, requires urgent acquisition of a second combat support ship to enable frigates and offshore patrol vessels to be employed efficiently. “That ship must be followed by replacement of SAS Drakensberg, which has been in service since 1987.”

The review further reads that there are also many requirements for enabling or supporting equipment that is essential to the effective employment of deployed forces. Among them are the replacement of old and unsuitable water purification, field kitchen and field accommodation equipment; the replacement of obsolete field workshop equipment; the replacement of old field hospital equipment; and the re-establishment of the Air Force tactical airfield unit capability, to enable support of aircraft away from Air Force bases.

“The Defence Force must also acquire communications systems and related equipment suited to both its deterrent role and its regional and continental security responsibilities.” Another urgent requirement is to acquire munitions and explosives of all kinds to allow effective live-fire and explosives training and the rebuilding of stocks.


Longer-term force rejuvenation and capability expansion

“Given the long-term nature of defence planning and defence acquisition planning, it is wise to also set out some key longer-term equipment requirements that will arise if the Defence Force is to remain an effective deterrent and is to meet South Africa’s regional security responsibilities,” the review' writers say. Some of these projects will have to be initiated in the near term if the required capabilities are to become available within a reasonable period, it adds. They include:

Expeditionary Operations. “If the Defence Force is to meet South Africa’s growing regional and continental security responsibilities, it must develop the capability to deploy and sustain medium forces outside the SADC region. That will require the development of a sealift capability that will enable the deployment of a mobile battalion group in a single lift; and the retention of one sealift platform offshore the deployment area to serve as a secure helicopter base, headquarters and logistic base for the landed force, while follow on forces are brought up by air and sea. That will require acquisition of at least two and preferably three ‘joint support ships’ with full helicopter operations capability and the ability to deploy landing craft to allow forces to be put ashore in the absence of a functioning harbour.” [Project Millennium]

Air Defence. “The Defence Force currently lacks any modern air defence weapons other than a single battery of very short range missiles (Starstreak). There are, therefore, clear requirements to acquire additional ‘very short range’ missiles to enable deployed units to protect themselves against air attack in a country in which a peace enforcement operation is taking place, be it by disaffected or hostile air force elements or by improvised attack aircraft such as used in Biafra in the 1960s and Sri Lanka in the 1990s; acquire mobile and mechanised air defence systems for medium forces that may be deployed for peace enforcement; and to ensure credible deterrence by providing for the protection of air bases, critical installations and deployed forces.” [GBADS: Projects Guardian, Outcome, Protector]

Main Battle Tank. “The main battle tank remains a core element of mobile forces in the deterrent role, and recent operations in several parts of the world (including Bosnia and Kosovo) [as well as Iraq and Afghanistan] have demonstrated the very considerable value of the main battle tank in peace enforcement and similar operations. The current Olifant is essentially a [1940s] tank that has undergone several upgrades, and is now obsolete in almost all respects. While it can be retained for a time as a training system, it is no longer credible as part of deterrent capability and lacks the reliability to be effective in supporting a peace enforcement operation, and must, therefore, be replaced as soon as possible.” [Project Aorta]

Medium Transport/Attack Helicopter. “While the Oryx will remain effective through 2020, it is essential to begin planning for its replacement now, as replacing the Oryx will probably require development of a ‘hot and high’ optimised variant of the type selected. That is a factor that could provide interesting opportunities for the South African industry, if the new helicopter will be acquired in numbers adequate to South Africa’s actual needs in the context of its regional and continental security responsibilities.” Those opportunities could include the development of the new variant together with the parent company (as was done with Oryx); the manufacture of the helicopter for the Air Force; the manufacture, in agreement with the parent company, of additional helicopters of this ‘hot and high’ variant for other air forces with similar requirements; and the development of a Rooivalk replacement on the basis of the new helicopter.

The consultative draft of the 2012 Defence Review states government will support “niche capability areas in which the South African defence and security industry has a demonstrable edge or potential to gain such edge.” Among these are precision guided weapons, fire direction systems and unmanned systems, the document says.

It adds the focus of national support will be on exclusive local sourcing, insofar as practicable, based on military priorities. This includes: support of equipment, systems and weapons and the related training systems and facilities; manufacture of critical munitions; manufacture of critical, specialised batteries and other energy sources; manufacture of critical and high-rate-of-use spares and other stores; and, system integration, to allow optimisation of equipment and systems for specific Defence Force requirements; and to minimise political/strategic risk. In addition, the focus will include modernisation and upgrading of equipment and systems to extend service lives; development of specific critical equipment and systems; development of specific optimised equipment and systems; and sustained manufacture of equipment required in large numbers or amounts.

“This will be accompanied by a focus on ensuring the commercial viability of South African defence products, particularly with an eye to their acquisition by other regional and continental armed forces, and cross-pollination of civilian and military capabilities,” the review further adds.

Furthermore, the focus of that support will be on secure communications; information technology, including data-fusion technology; intelligence gathering, analysis and evaluation technology; electronic warfare technology; rugged tactical vehicles optimised for operations in the African theatre; mine and IED detection and protection technology; long-range artillery systems; chemical, biological and radiological defence; battlefield medical care optimised for the African theatre of operations; and modelling and simulation. It adds the “aerospace sector will be considered for inclusion in this group of key sectors, if it is believed that there is real potential to develop a viable product or viable capabilities in particular niche areas.”

It may, for instance, be possible to expand South Africa’s capabilities in the field of unmanned aerial systems on the basis of existing capabilities in that field and in related fields, and on the basis of the airframe development capability resulting from UAV projects and the recently unveiled [Paramount Group/Aerosud] AHRLAC concept aircraft; develop the AHRLAC … into a viable operational system with real export potential; or to build on the Air Force’s medium to long-term requirements for combat support and medium transport helicopters to develop a local manufacturing capability and linked maintenance, repair and overhaul capability to support other helicopters in the wider region, the review reads.

Long after the presentation of the 2010 Soccer World Cup to the Spaniards, South Africa continues to receive praise from here and abroad for its expert handling of this global showcase. Integral to its success was the first ever operational deployment of Reutech Radar Systems’ two-dimensional ESR 220 Thutlwa – a rapid deployment local warning radar system.

The South African Air Force and elements from other services and divisions of the SANDF were given the responsibility to secure the airspace around the World Cup stadia over the 40-day period of 30 May until 11 July 2010. The South African Army’s Air Defence Artillery drew on the ESR 220 Thutlwa’s local warning radars for deployment around the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth and Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium. Technical maintenance and support to ensure the full operational availability of the ESR 220 were a given.

The SAAF generated its air picture from their static and mobile radars and that of Air Traffic Navigation. The deployment of the ESR 220 completed the picture by providing coverage where low-flying objects, such as micro-lights could usually be difficult to detect.

The Joint Operation Centre received a real-time ADC (Air Defence Control) picture from the ESR 220, thereby supporting effective decision-making.

Much as the tactical footwork of soccer’s finest was admired by enthusiasts of the game, the ESR 220 Thutlwa drew a great deal of The Friendly City’s attention as it travelled to its designated deployment sites. It’s not every day that Port Elizabeth residents get to see the Thutlwa escorted by both military and civil traffic services.

As for Durban, the deployment was much more low-key, due to the Thutlwa’s location. At the same token, the security was strict throughout.

With the fulfilling of Reutech Radar Systems’ mission statement of provision of superior solutions, the future application of the ESR 220 Thutlwa as an effective radar system, irrespective of the operational environment, remains secure.

The ESR 3xx range is a family of fully coherent 3D medium and long-range solid-state L-band surveillance and air defence radars. All products in this range use planar array antennas to form a number of spatially encoded beams in order to extract height information in real time.

The 150 km range ESR 360VX system is a 3D local warning air defence radar derived from the highly successful ESR 360 air surveillance radar delivered to the South African Air Force for evaluation in 1995. This system combines high update rate target information from primary radar and IFF to air picture management and fire control stations located within a self-contained high mobility armoured shelter.

The 200 km range ESR 360L system provides high accuracy 3D air surveillance and Ground Control Intercept (GCI) capability to operators housed in remote display shelters. This system makes use of a solid-state distributed transmitter and receiver housed within a composite-material antenna structure. High mast height allows performance unimpeded by nearby obstructions, thereby enhancing suitability for operation in the southern African environment. This system has, since 1997, been operated in numerous trials with the South African Air Force, and is currently undergoing further enhancements and systemisation.

Technology developed for the ESR 360 variants has also been applied in the ESR 380. This system is a 400 km extended-range 3D air surveillance radar equally suited for mobile and fixed-site operation, and utilises advanced signal processing techniques in a 9-beam simultaneous-lobing configuration.

All systems are available with integral Identification Friend or Foe (IFF), as well as a comprehensive Electronic Counter Countermeasures (ECCM) suite.

Role by the South African Army in Africa

21 July 2011 :: Deployment of a Thutlwa deployed at Juba Airport Reutech Thutlwa ESR 220 to South Sudan

As part of the independence celebrations, the South African government deployed a military contingent to Juba in South Sudan, Africa’s newest state. The purpose was to provide radar coverage for the airfield and the necessary airspace control for all the visiting heads of states and other VIP’s at the airport. A SANDF Air Defence Artillery Formation Thutlwa Radar System was deployed at Juba airport to support the SA Air Force in providing radar coverage of the airfield for Airspace Management / Air Traffic control functionality.

After travelling more than 500km by road from Kimberley to Pretoria the Thutlwa system was loaded on board an Ilyushin II-76 cargo aircraft which flew another 5000km to Juba. The Thutlwa system was off-loaded and deployed and was declared operational the same day with an air picture via the Air Picture Display System to the air traffic controllers.

This heralded the first ever deployment of a Reutech Thutlwa Radar System beyond the borders of South Africa and only the third ever operational deployment in an operatiopn other than war mission of the system. The first being the 2010 Soccer World Cup and the second was in an Air Border safeguarding operation earlier this year.

Radar technology capabilities of the South African Army

Electronicon A.S. a Norwegian defence equipment supply company was contracted in December 2007 by the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation (NDLO) to supply five RSR 210N X-Band air/ sea surveillance radars. This contract was awarded for radar systems to be applied aboard the Aegis-equipped Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates of the Royal Norwegian Navy with primary role as helicopter control radar and additional supplementary surveillance capabilities. Reutech Radar Systems, a South African radar development and manufacturing company was contracted by Electronicon A.S. as the major sub-supplier into the program.

To date RSR 210N has been installed aboard KNM Otto Sverdrup, KNM Roald Amundsen and KNM Fridtjof Nansen with the balance of the five systems on schedule for delivery later this year and early next year.

A significant milestone was reached with the successful completion of the Final Qualification Review following Sea Acceptance Trials in Norwegian waters at the end of June this year. As part of the run-up to these trials, several engineering trials were conducted, often executed under adverse weather and sea state conditions. The trials collectively proved the system’s ability to provide the ship with a high performance supplementary air/sea surveillance capability as well as to provide high accuracy helicopter position reporting even under complex clutter conditions encountered in the Norwegian landward, littoral and open sea environments.

These trials comprised extensive accuracy measurements, near and far range detection performance of both air and sea targets as well as the system’s ability to classify targets as surface, fixed wing or helicopter. Sustained performance in the presence of electronic counter-measures has confirmed the status of RSR 210N as a true naval radar.

The successful completion of the Final Qualification Review establishes RSR 210N’s operational standing aboard principal warships of a leading NATO navy.

The week of 19 to 23 September will mark Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD 2012) seventh exhibition, cementing its status as ‘The largest exhibition of air, sea and land capabilities on the African continent’.

http://www.aadexpo.co.za

So much preparation goes on behind the scenes between shows, both from the side of the exhibitor’s and AAD team to ensure that the standard of the show keeps improving, so it is rewarding to see visitor numbers increase with each exhibition.

Between 19 and 21 September, trade and static displays will attract visitors from more than 31 countries as well as South African industry/trade delegates. The three trade days will be followed by the public days and spectacular airshow on 22 and 23 September 2012. It’s expected that the public days will attract crowds in the region of more than 50,000 spectators per day.

The trade days will feature 11 national pavilions including United States , China , Belgium , Germany , Italy , Turkey , Russia , India , Switzerland , Romania and United Kingdom and are expected to stimulate business for local and international companies involved in the growing defence, general aviation and security industries. AAD opens doors for local manufacturers and the huge amount of interest from the international defence and aerospace industry creates opportunities to exploit emerging markets in the southern African region as well as the continent as a whole.

The City of Tshwane ( Pretoria ) in conjunction with AAD and South African Police Services will monitor the event to ensure visitor and public safety and they will oversee a traffic management plan for AAD 2012 with traffic services to direct the thousands of people expected to attend AAD 2012 airshow. For the public, the allure of the show will be in the form of breath-taking aerobatic displays on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 September.

There will also be lots of entertainment for the whole family, static displays of aircraft, trucks and armoured vehicles and an entertainment park for children.

Apart from the airshow, the open days will also feature vehicle demonstrations and plenty of interesting exhibitions. There will also be a youth development programme, where (learners and students) youngsters can experience the world of flight simulators, vehicle simulators and model building. Industry representatives will be on hand to provide more information about careers in the aerospace and defence industries.

For further information please contact: Ms Vhongani Shumba - AAD2012: Marketing and PR manager ; Cell: +27 (0)84 840 3214 e-mail: marketingpr@aadexpo.co.za
Website: www.aadexpo.co.za .

This is part of the VISION 2020 PROCUMENT PROCESS:

SA Army Projects

2020
Overarching programme to position the SA Army for the future in terms of strategy, doctrine, vision, mission and equipment acquisition.

Acrobat
Acquisition of long-range 60mm mortar system. 102 systems ordered mid-2006 for R101 million as part of Project Acrobat, delivery expected from 2009 to 2010

Adrift
Upgrade of ZT2 anti-armour missile to ZT3 Ingwe baseline standard for the SA armoured Corps. Thirteen new launchers and 80 missiles delivered since Q3 2006. Foreseen commissioning: 2008.

Ambition 1B
Acquisition of the Gecko rapid deployment logistical vehicles for parachute and Special Forces. 112 delivered. Commissioned from June 2006. "Partial acquisition only".

Aorta
Planned acquisition of a new main battle tank to replace the Olifant. Leopard 2 considered likely choice.

Arum lily
Upgrade of 80 Rooikat armoured cars. Foreseen commissioning 2008.

Atolasa
Upgrade of the Olifant MK 1B main battle tank to MK2 status. Commissioning from late 2007

Billet
Acquisition of a new generation semi-static communications infrastructure for operation by 2 Signal Regiment.

Bioskoop
Development of local warning radar system and battery command post for air defence. Four Thutlhwa (Kameelperd, Giraffe) ordered 1996 and delivered 2006. Requirement stands for a troop command post.

Blesbok
Partial acquisition of new-generation water purification and provisioning system using a shortened acquisition process. Foreseen date for production: 2008.

Chamber
Acquisition of a new generation tactical electronic capability for 5 Signal Regiment[1].
R110 million budgeted.

Citizen
Partial acquisition of a new-generation maintenance, repair and recovery system. Foreseen commissioning 2013.

Cytoon
Development and partial acquisition of a battlefield surveillance and mobile intelligence processing system consisting of a battlefield surveillance radar, thermal imager and UAV. Foreseen commissioning: 2009.

Gijima
Upgrade of 167 Casspir APC. Project was to be completed by March 2007.

Guardian (GBADS 1)
Local warning segment of the Ground-Based Air Defence System (GBADS). Two Thales PAGE warning radars, eight Lightweight Multiple Launchers for the Starstreak very short-range air defence missile

Hoefyster
Partial acquisition of a new generation infantry fighting vehicle. 264 Patria Advanced Modular Vehicles on order at a cost of R8.4 billion. Deliveries from 2010.

Isibali
New generation (insensitive) explosives.

Jury
Upgrade of 220 Mamba APC. Commissioning.

Khanyisa
Upgrade of 100 M40A1 106mm RCL, ammunition resupply.

Kingfisher
Upgrade of 30 Milan launchers to Milan ADT-ER status and acquisition of 300 missiles for R167.4 million. Delivery underway. Up to 100 more launchers can be upgraded.

Klooster
Acquisition of an artillery target engagement system. First regimental set delivered 2007, second 2008. System includes an African Defence Systems fire control subsystem and an ATE Vulture unmanned aerial system.

Legend
Acquisition of the first phase of a tactical command, control, communications and information computer (C4I) system for the brigade-and-below. A R30m+ contract awarded to Saab Systems SA in 2008.

Musuku
Development and partial acquisition of an advanced multi-role light artillery gun capability in the form of the 105mm "Light Experimental Ordnance. Foreseen commissioning: 2012.

Muhali
An artillery ammunition and charge system upgrade for the G5 and G6 155mm medium gun systems. Foreseen commissioning: 2008

Outcome (GBADS III)
Planned acquisition of the Umkhonto all weather surface-to-air-misile (AWSAM). No dates as yet.

Pantile
Acquisition of engineer earthmoving/construction equipment. Foreseen commissioning: 2009

Pigeon
Upgrade of the SS77 general purpose machine gun. Commissioning

Pirate
Partial acquisition of a new generation hand-held mine detector. Foreseen commissioning: 2008.

Prickley (sic) pear
Acquisition of a data base geographical information system for the SANDF.

Protector (GBADS II)
Development and partial acquisition of a mobile ground-based air defence system. Possible R3bn[2] budget for land-based Umkhonto IR missile. Foreseen commissioning: 2010.

Raadsaal
Acquisition of a heavy/extra heavy recovery vehicle. Commissioning. Completion scheduled for March 2008.

Radiate
A new generation tactical communications system for operation by 1 Signal Regiment.

Swatch
Development and partial acquisition of mobile camping system. No funds available at May 2007.

Teamster
Development and partial acquisition of mass field feeding system (field kitchen). Foreseen commissioning: 2008.

Tladi
"Zone 1" anti-tank. New generation portable infantry A/T rocket launcher to replace RPG7 and FT5.

Topstar
Partial acquisition of new-generation gyroscopic systems for the artillery. Foreseen commencement of commissioning: 2008. Not SCAMP funded.

Utolo
Partial acquisition of minefield breaching system to replace Plofadder. In study phase 2005-7.

Vistula[3]
Acquisition of 3000 logistics trucks to replace the SAMIL series. MAN, Mercedes Benz short-listed. Award delayed by allegations of corruption and interference in the tender process.

Vlooimark
Partial acquisition of infantry 40mm Y3 automatic grenade launcher. Commissioning.

Vundulula
Partial acquisition of field fire fighting system. Project not funded beyond study phase (in 2005).

Warrior
Dismounted soldier system. Acquisition study for low risk items completed 2006. Development plan for complex sub-systems underway.

Wyandotte
Study of deeper level logistics: Transport by truck, train and ship. Project not funded beyond study phase.

Not registered as a project by Sep 2008
Acquisition of a new light armour system for the Armoured Corps to replace the Eland-series armoured car. Required Operational Capability Study completed.

{mospagebreak title=SA Air Force Projects}
SA Air Force Projects

Adobe
Acquisition of a self-protection system for the Oryx. Project complete, June 2007.

Assegaai
Development of a short-range air-to-air missile for the SAAF fighter stream. Being developed as a joint venture with Brazil by Denel Dynamics. Each country is said to have allocated R500 million to the missile development phase. It is not clear how much SA has spent additionally on the project between conceptualisation and 2006 when the JV was announced.

Bandsman
Upgrade and replacement of airport fire tenders. Phase 1 to upgrade existing fire tenders was completed in 2006. Phase 2 for the acquisition of further fire tenders is in progress with a completion date for 2010.

Continent
Acquisition of between 8-14 Airbus A400M Loadmaster future medium transports. Delivery was due from late 2010, but project now substantially delayed as a result of development problems.

Deer
Acquisition of a stand-off radar jammer for the Denel Oryx medium helicopter. Project completed, June 2007.

Design
Aircrew training simulator. Final acceptance of the system at 80 Air Navigation School. Operational Test and Evaluation scheduled to end late August 2008.

Drummer
Midlife upgrade for the remaining Denel Oryx medium helicopters that came into service in 1989. About 38 out of 51 still fly.

Ebb
C130 midlife upgrade. Scheduled completed March 2008

Impose
Design, development and production of Denel CSH2A Rooivalk combat support helicopter and Mokopa heavy antitank guided missile. Development to be completed by 2009 after starting in 1984; R8.1bn spent on programme to 2007. Mokopa: R70m set aside to acquire missiles. R120m spent on development to FY2007, R4.6m to be spent in FY2007/8 and Denel to spend a further R98.25m.[4]

Flange
Acquisition of 30 Agusta A109 light utility helicopters for R2.39 billion (2007 Treasury figure).

Koiler
Acquisition of a day/night tactical intelligence (reconnaissance) system for the Cessna C208 light transport inclusive of a datalink. Acquisition of three sets of mission equipment and the modification of 11 aircraft have been contracted. Operational test and evaluation scheduled 2008. Release to service planned for late 2008.

Maulstic
Acquisition of four maritime helicopters for Navy Project Sitron (the frigate acquisition). Four Agusta-Westland 300 SuperLynx delivered July 2007.

Muggie
Replacement of a radio-switching network.

Simunye[5]
"A technology project for defining, testing and evaluating Joint Air Defence Command and Control (C2) systems concepts and related systems architectures".

Ukhozi
Acquisition of an advanced lightweight fighter aircraft. Twenty-six Saab JAS39 Gripen C/D to be delivered by 2012 at a cost of R20 billion (2007 Treasury figure).

Winchester
Acquisition of a lead-in fighter trainer. Twenty four BAE Systems Mk120 Hawk delivered by 2008 at a cost of R7.2 billion (2007 Treasury figure).

Not registered as a project in 2007[6]
Acquisition of a future medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV. Still under consideration by SAAF not yet registered as a Required Operational Capability.

Not registered as a project in 2007
Acquisition of a future maritime patrol aircraft. Still under consideration by SAAF not yet registered as a Required Operational Capability.

Not known
Leasing of three Saab Erieye multirole airborne surveillance systems housed on Embraer platforms. Said to be a work in progress with system to be in place by June 2010, kick-off for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Not known
Acquisition of the Diehl BGT IRIS-T short-range infrared air-to-air missile for the Gripen advanced lightweight fighter aircraft.

Not known
Avionics upgrade for the Pilatus PC7 MkII (M) ab initio trainer. Thirty-five aircraft to be upgraded at a budgeted cost of R400 million.

Not known
Acquisition of a low-cost, side-by-side, basic trainer. Twelve aircraft @R2-3m each, R24-36m for the fleet[7].

Not known
"Pavement management system" (runway upgrades, six sub-projects).


SA Navy Projects

Biro
Planned acquisition and local construction of six to 12 multi-mission offshore patrol vessels (MMOPV) Ballpark cost R300 million each. The vessels will replace the current Warrior-class OPV, the River-class minehunter and City-class minesweeper. To run in conjunction with Project Hotel. Award scheduled for 2009.

Brutes
Half life upgrade for combat support ship SAS Drakensberg.

Hotel
Acquisition of a new generation maritime survey ship to replace the Hecla-class SAS Protea. To run in conjunction with Project Biro. Award scheduled for 2009. Ship to have a secondary OPV role and equipment fit.

Mapantsula
Acquisition of an "offboard" mine counter-measure system (autonomous underwater vehicle) for use by surface fleet. Scheduled for completion: 2010.

Millennium
Acquisition of a "strategic support ship". One or more 200m LPD/LPH vessels contemplated. Likely acquisition cost based on a similar French design €340 million per ship.

Sitron
Acquisition of four Meko A200SAN small guided missile frigates. Delivered and in service.

Stanchion
Acquisition of an underwater signature measurement system. Phase 1 (the signal measurement system) scheduled for delivery December 2007. Phase 2 (magnetic treatment centre) scheduled for completion December 2009.

Suvecs
Design and development of an indigenous frigate combat suite. Cancelled in favour of Thales Tavitac for Project Sitron. Subject to subsequent litigation and controversy.

Wills
Acquisition of a new generation submarine. Three ThyssenKrupp Type 209 1400 boats delivered and in service.

Xena
Acquisition of a C3I system and 15 10.5m inshore patrol vessels for the Operational Boat Squadron.


SA Military Health Service Projects

Beginning
Establishment of an aeromedical and specialist training facility. Likely cost R400 million.
Not budgeted for in 2007.

Mutchkin (sic)
Development and partial acquisition of a basic chemical and biological (CB) self-protection capability consisting of CB detection, protection and equipment de-contamination. Partial acquisition is planned to commence by December 2008 and first deliveries by September 2009. Six urban defence systems, three conventional systems. R422m required but only R198m on budget for next 13 years.


Command Management and Information Systems Division Projects


Domino
Redesign of the division`s structure.


Joint Operations Division Projects

Battlespace[8]
"A high-level overview of the characteristics of the current and possible future African operational environment and of some of the military implications thereof".


Special Forces Projects

Ambition 1A
Acquisition of the Hornet rapid deployment reconnaissance vehicle for the Special Forces. All 25 delivered by BAE Systems Land Systems OMC by August 2006. Commissioned. .

Sundowner
Long-range high-speed boats for the Special Forces. Delivered.

The point of the message was not about war but the state of comabat readiness of the South African navy. The indication shows that South African navy possess a class of highly trained sailors. Every person in his right mind knows that South Africa would not engage any country in conflict...let alone the United States.....military exercise with other best military forces are meant to bench mark one´s standard of combat readiness and South Africa in this case came out on top inspite of rationalisation, old soldiers, AIDS scare, illiteracy, incompetency and other negative stereo type propaganda being waged against the South African National Defence Force