Only 6 qualified fighter pilots in the South African Air Force
 

Poor pilots in South Africa

ONLY 6 QUALIFIED FIGHTER PILOTS IN TOTAL

The South African Air Force (SAAF) has an annual budget of 150 hours flying for the WHOLE squadron or 25 hours per pilot for the year.

South Africa bought 26 Gripens but have put 12 into long term storage.

You can read more here

Well ... who wants to attack South Africa? :confused:

Precisely.................

Still, looks bad.....

South Africa used to have the most powerful military on the continent.
Their air force facilities were impressive back in the 70's - they hosted the Rhodesian pilots under training for their final phase on Macchi jets in Capetown back then - wish I'd made it that far.
I hope the "International Community" is pleased with the dismemberment of that great nation.

Fox, that looks like language from an OLD STANAG.

Very old. The last time I got that many hours in a year was......never.

Best was 234 hrs in 1988, on my convex year on my first Sqn.

From where are they threatened?

Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Angolsh ...... none of them seem like a great threat!

Funny they've all gone quiet now that the ANC is seen to be corrupt, nepotistic, racist, incompetent, and destructive.

Can wee have your spare Grippens please ;-)
Great deal for someone

SA
 

I think the summary of the story is that the SAAF didn't want Gripens because they were too expensive and hard to develop local weapons for but they got them because of politics (and corruption) and now they can't afford to fly them.

In some ways this sounds similar to what's happening elsewhere in the world.

Another thing : The country has more to fear from those who are destroying it from inside than from those who might attack it from outside.

That looks like the same number of fighter pilots as the FAA:sad:

So half in storage whats the betting they go straight from storage to scrap as I doubt they are been stored correctly and probably turning into well robbed hanger queens.

Sad but true. The legacy of unfettered political correctness......

Careful BEagle as otherwise you will only set off pr00ne yet again:yuk:

As I hinted on another thread Beags,stand by- in the next 18 months or so for the 12 Gripens ( and spares) package to be sold on as a nice little earner for an ANC backed enterprise.

Perhaps someone should offer Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula a trip in a Gripen:


She might then see why pilot proficiency requires regular training.

Haraka, I hate to think how much money the ANC has 'reallocated'.....

As for the champagne socialist, he can say what he likes!

Er How ?

Only with a :mad: giant shoehorn at start and tin opener at finish ?

"ANC is seen to be corrupt, nepotistic, racist, incompetent, and destructive."

and the Ancient Regime under Verwoerd, Botha, de Klerk etc etc were - Mother Teresa?

It's actually hard to tell the difference sometimes

No, the old regime weren't Mother Teresa, but things are a damn sight worse now for the vast majority, whom 'democracy' was supposed to have helped, than ever before.

For you perhaps, which implies that you might be commenting without having any real knowledge of the situation.