Inside the T-50 deal

Tshireletso Motlogelwa | Friday March 14, 2014 17:43

Khama may ok acquisition

When President Ian Khama and his right man on defence, Minister Ramadeluka Seretse meet Botswana Defence Force (BDF) experts sometime this month, the soldiers will present a somewhat grim picture.

They will present a picture of a country with a questionable air defence, especially on the offensive aspect of air systems.

They will give the President two options; procure the Korean T-50 or attempt to keep the aged F-5s, which every year cost a couple of hundred million Pula to barely keep in the air.

According to international military sources, BDF is at an advanced stage of acquiring the South Korean T-50 fighter jet.

This week BDF officials will engage with Khama and Seretse, the Minister of Defence to present a case for the South Korean fighter jet acquisition.

Insiders say military thinkers are confident Khama will okay the move to acquire given that the BDF’s Air Wing is a in a ‘sorry state’. Some say the BDF Air Wing is as good as in crisis when it comes to fighter capability.

Crisis fighter situation

The last time BDF procured fighter jets was in the 1990s, when it procured 10 BF-5A and five BF-5D from Canada.  Unconfirmed reports indicate that for a while now the BDF’s fighter jet fleet the F-5 was grounded due to age and high maintenance costs. 

This in the follow-up to the disastrous Strikemasters acquisition.

The 1988 acquisition of BAC Strikemasters was fraught with controversy when engineers discovered that the planes had serious faults, which forced them to be grounded and ultimately brought out of service.

Between then and now the BDF has been working with the F-5, and in recent times most of these have spent more time on the hangar being fixed than engines running.

Two years ago the BDF attempted to revive the F-5, however the exercise proved too costly, which some insiders say explains the ballooning budget the army has reported in the last few years.  It is said the now gas-guzzling engines set back the BDF around P60 million a year. Replacement has proven very difficult given that since the F-5 type, multiple generation have followed.

In a way the F-5 remains a heavy burden for the BDF, not up to the job, while costlier to maintain over time than making new procurement. Mandatory service makes keeping the F-5 a costly exercise.