Half of South Africas Fighters in Long Term Storage
Looks like things are tough all over…..In 2005 South Africa bought 26 Gripens (17 single-seat Gripen Cs and nine two-seat Gripen Ds) as part of the Strategic Defence Procurement Package along with 24 BAE Hawk two seat advanced trainers. This gave them the most modern and effective air force in the African contentent south of Egypt. However just 7 years later, most of thier force is sidelined due to cash issues. The number of flight hours per Gripen aircrew member was reduced in 2011 from 224 to 110 per year.
At present the SAAF can only muster six qualified Gripen pilots who only have 150 flying hours available across the whole Gripen squadron. The annual target for active Gripen itself was 250 hours for the 2011/2012 period. Why I say ‘active’ is that of the 26 Gripens in South Africa’s inventory, no less than a dozen are in long term storage.
One of the SAAF’s few operational Gripens