The hidden aspects of the defence budget

Richard Moleofe | Friday February 19, 2016 15:13

And if it is true that BDF is ready to purchase brand new fighter jets, this amount will not be enough in just one financial year.

It has happened before that we went into contract with the United States of America regarding military hardware, and for three years, the rest of BDF’s development budget was directed towards redeeming the contract entanglements.

In that case BDF was offered three Hercules C-130 by the US government. Similarly, South Africans were given three while Zimbabwe got two.

A little later after the Americans had fulfilled their part of the obligation in the deal by delivering planes and training pilots for free, the manufacturer gave the receiving countries notice that they would not enjoy the donation far too long. The machines were Series C and the spare parts for such old models were no longer going to be in production.

All the donor countries were advised that they needed to do engine and avionics upgrades to Series H which is a more recent model of the airplane. The airframe could still last as long as the new engines would survive. The donor countries found themselves in a paradox as their celebrations for a gift were ended rather too abruptly. 

BDF had very little choice but to upgrade. All developments at this military establishment came to a halt for three solid years. South Africa followed suit while Zimbabwe chose to keep the planes in their original form. That was a bad decision because right now theirs have now been turned into museum pieces. What it means in the case of the other two countries is that; they have transport aircrafts that are as good as new.

One wonders whether the US government had inside information as regards the discontinuation of the production of the spare parts or it was a very unfortunate coincidence for the receiving countries. Another theory may be that when the manufacturer learnt of the donation, then they decided to up their profits by taking this drastic move of curtailing the production of spare parts for older models that formed part of the donation.

The donation was made in the late 1990s and this was just after the Cold War ended. The US government had started an aggressive drawdown programme on their military. The drawdown was focused at reducing military personnel and equipment which included infrastructure as we saw the closure of several bases like Fort Monmouth in New Jersey.

However, it must be noted that even though this military contract became somewhat expensive, in the long run BDF benefitted from the deal because they now have airplanes that are almost new. For any aircraft, what matters the most is its engines and its avionics. That in human biology would represent the heart and the brain, which works with the central nervous system.

It is most likely from the look of things that BDF has settled for a deal with Korean Aerospace Industry. There is so much compelling evidence that supports the theory that BDF is set to buy from the East. However, there is less compelling evidence that we would purchase anything from the Brazilians. Despite the fact the Brazilians have made an effort to bring their Super Tucano here for demonstration does not conclusively mean BDF is interested in their airplane.

Interestingly, the president has had an opportunity to watch both planes demonstrated. His impressions lie so much with the Korean jet. In fact the Brazilians came far too late when decision had been made about the Korean deal. Their mission was to demonstrate to several countries including the Portuguese speaking Angola and Mozambique.

Even though there has been speculation that BDF has also been looking at purchasing the Grippen from Sweden, this was way out of reality because of the cost of the aircraft. All pointers are toward Korea from the way our defence budget looks. Allow me to take you through the disadvantages of getting into a deal with one of the Asian tigers. South Korea is a country that has achieved impressive technological advancement and their products are trustworthy. But here is the catch! The Koreans always prefer to sell their products cheap and catch up with their clientele in the area of service support. Korean vehicle manufacturers sell their motor vehicles reasonably in comparison to other motor manufacturers. Interestingly, customers never bother themselves with the cost of vehicle maintenance when they do a purchase. What they are mostly after is the price and the features in the vehicle.

The government of Botswana is equally blinded to these important issues. Korean vehicles are relatively inexpensive, but their maintenance doesn’t come that cheap. In the past Central Transport Organisation chose to buy Korean vehicles in such big numbers and that decision has come to haunt them as the cost of maintenance has become ridiculously high. The fleet includes vehicles that are used by Members of Parliament who are the law makers of Botswana.

It is upon parliament to disapprove the proposed defence budget if they are exercising their independence as the constitution of Botswana grants. But if they still want to continue as a lame parliament, then they can approve it. That is what a docile parliament would do when the executive calls the shorts.

Zambia was in similar circumstances with the maintenance of the IFA trucks that had been procured from East Germany during the Kaunda days. And similarly, that deal was set to benefit the seller and the middle man as the benefits to the country were completely out of question.