SAAF inducts first batch of Gripen JAS-39 fighter aircraft

Johannesburg: The South Africa Air Force (SAAF) has accepted the first four Gripen advanced fighter aircraft into service. Early in the week, SAAF chief Lieutenant General Carlo Gagiano, defence force head General Godfrey Ngwenya, and defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota signed paperwork accepting these aircraft into SAAF service.

All nine twin-seater and 17 single-seater of these Saab Gripen JAS-39 fighters will be delivered to the SAAF by 2012. While 25 of these aircraft will be assigned to 2 Squadron at AFB Makhado, in Limpopo, the last will be assigned to research and development at the SAAF Test Flight & Development Centre.

Speaking at the event on the opening day of the Africa Aerospace and Defence show, in Cape Town, Lekota said the ceremony was ''a major milestone in the continuing process of re-equipping and revitalising the SA National Defence Force – a process that started with the conceptualisation of a new defence policy in the White Paper on Defence of 1996 and Defence Review of 1998.

''From the inception of our democratic South Africa it was envisaged that the Defence Force should be a modern, technologically advanced force. The Gripen, the first truly modern front-line fighter aircraft in SA since the acquisition of Mirage fighters in the mid-1970s, is a potent symbol of that aspiration.''

He also said "the Gripen would be the icon of SA's air capability for several decades to come.''

"The recruitment, training and retention of skilled personnel - pilots, technicians, fighter controllers and a host of others - is critical if that latent capability is to be realised," he added.

For the moment, the fighters are only armed with an integral 27mm Mauser cannon. The short-range IRIS-T air-to-air missile is on order from Diehl BGT and more weapons are under development for the plane.

As for pilots, the first class of six instructors are now under training at Makhado.