WHY DO WE NEED FIGHTER AIRCRAFT?

With the South African Air Force’s Gripen fleet steadily returning to operational status after a year-long grounding as a result of budget cuts and delays in negotiating anew supportcontract, there were once again claims by politicians, journalists, civil society, and members of the public that the country has no need for fighter aircraft at all.

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THIS IS AN ARGUMENT that has been made since the earliest days of the 1999 Strategic Defence Procurement Package (aka ‘Arms Deal’) in which the country acquired 26 Gripens from Saab in Sweden.

This column will provide some of the reasoning and justification for a fighter capability and background on how the decision was made in our context.

To begin, it’s necessary to understand how national defence strategy is developed in South Africa, and from it, defence policies, the force structure, and resultant acquisitions.

In essence, it’s a mixture of constitutional directives, acts of Parliament, white papers and defence reviews, overall national strategies, and Cabinet decisions. The Constitution of course has primacy, and in Section 200(2) states that; “The primary object of the defence force is to defend and protect the Republic, its territorial integrity and its people in accordance with the Constitution and the principles of international law regulating the use of force.”