The entire fleet of Saab JAS-39C/D Gripen fighter jets of the South African Air Force (SAAF) is temporarily grounded. The reason is the Government's lack of resources, which did not renew the maintenance contracts with Saab in the necessary time.
After a series of inquiries from the local media, the Department of Defense confirmed that the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) Air Defense capability has been negatively impacted by prolonged discussions related to maintenance contracts. defenseWeb.
“Following a lengthy discussion between the South African Air Force, through Armscor and Saab on the contract relating to the Gripen, proposals have been submitted by both parties and are being reviewed to ensure that the matter is conclusively addressed by the parties involved,” said Siphiwe Dlamini, DoD Communications Chief. “It is unfortunate that discussions took longer than expected as a result, negatively impacting Air Defense capability.”
“The SAAF is confident that a solution will be found to resolve this matter. Due to the sensitivity surrounding the discussion, the talks cannot be made public.” added the spokesperson.
Darren Olivier, Director of the African Defense Review, notes that “Thanks to this delay, the SAAF Gripen fleet has been grounded for three months and is unlikely to return to the air until the end of January at the earliest.” However, this should only happen if a maintenance contract is signed in 2021.
The issue affects not only Gripens, but also BAE Hawk trainers, Oryx helicopters and C-130 Hercules freighters. There are only about a dozen Oryx available out of a fleet of around 40.
Last year, only about a third of the Hawk fleet was operational. Much of the fleet of eight C-130BZ Hercules is out of service, although two aircraft are airworthy and flying after major maintenance. Another two are undergoing scheduled maintenance.
It is believed that half of the fleet of 26 JAS-39s (17 JAS-39C and nine JAS-39D) was cannibalized to obtain spare parts. At the same time, crew lose experience due to lack of flight hours. This is compounded by the lack of available Pilatus PC-7 Mk II trainers, the website points out.
In August of this year, negotiations on applying for new contracts for the Hawk and Gripen were still ongoing due to “high fixed costs”.
defenseWeb understands that maintenance and contracts were not renewed in time due to Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) requirements, Armscor's incorrect implementation of Preferred Procurement regulations, and funding restrictions.
