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Lieutenant General Carlo Gagiano. Photo: Masi Losi

Hundreds of millions of rand in cash injections are needed to keep the South African Air Force (SAAF) flying.

This was stark message delivered by air force chief, Lieutenant-General Carlo Gagiano in Pretoria on Friday.

Gagiano, who laid bare the true situation facing the SAAF, was speaking during the annual air force day parade held at Air Force Base Swartkop.

Hammering home the point on the crisis facing the SAAF was the parade’s cancelled fly-past.

The fly-past, which usually includes aircraft from all the air force’s squadrons, was canned apparently because of the cash crisis. “This parade is different, because I need to make a statement. Yes, there is an element of austerity measures present in it. The statement I make is that if the balance between the human resources budget and operating budget is not corrected, very few aircraft will fly.

“If resources are not used optimally, very few aircraft will fly. If every person does not contribute optimally to the mission and performance not measured, very few aircraft will fly. If we are all not disciplined, focused and do not enhance our knowledge, very few aircraft will fly,” said Gagiano.

Gagiano’s no-holds barred warning comes as sources with inside information on the financial crisis facing the SAAF praised the chief and his small team for keeping the air force flying. “What Gagiano and his team have done to keep the air force functioning with the shoestring budget which they have been given is nothing short of a miracle.

“The fact that aircraft are still able to fly is beyond belief,” a source said.

Gagiano, highlighting some of the difficulties and challenges facing the SAAF, said to overcome the crisis was not just about money.

“We are not funded totally by a long shot, but to deal with this is about more than money. It is about thinking and operating smart. It is about ensuring that we do everything to maximise what we get to ensure that we get the maximum flying hours out of what we have,” he said.

Gagiano, who praised the air force’s achievements in delivering hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid to Somalia and its operations in Libya and Ivory Coast, said there were serious shortcomings in regards to the SAAF’s capabilities, “which if lost would be difficult to regain”.

“These shortcomings include VIP air transportation, maritime surveillance, light air transport where a lack of suitable aircraft are creating a severe constraint.

“Other challenges are around adequate electronic warfare platforms, unmanned aerial vehicle systems, sensors and night capabilities.

“These shortcomings urgently require solutions for them to be addressed,” said Gagiano.

He said adding to the challenges was the steady state of decline of infrastructure. “We have to think smart to deal with this and roll up our sleeves and get involved ourselves. Just the damage caused to the Hoedspruit air force base from recent flooding in Mpumalanga will run into tens of millions of rand with repairs estimated to cost R36m.

“Other challenges include aging systems and systems which are not nearly sufficient in either numbers or capabilities to allow us to do what we need to do. On staffing challenges, the SAAF needs to focus on performance management, concentrate more on training, mentoring, career management and discipline.

“Training is an issue which must be pursued to the fullest degree,” he said.

Gagiano, explaining how the air force had ended up in the situation it was in, said it had been caused by various reasons, ranging from a lack of financial resources to government priorities, rightfully, being elsewhere such as health and education. “Defence is simply not on the front end of government’s priorities and this, along with a skewing of human resources and operations budgets, has also led to this.

“In terms of the skewing of budgets, we are in the process of correcting these to ensure that we can get the maximum number of flying hours out of our money.”

Asked why the budgets had become skewed, Gagiano said it had come about because of the number of staff retained in the air force following the economic decline and the rightful increase of salaries.

“Also there are no proper exit strategies, meaning we have retained a lot of people,” he said.

Highlighting initiatives to get the maximum out of the SAAF’s budget, Gagiano said they had devised several highly successful cost-saving projects which had reduced the cost of training, including the use of simulator and flying cheaper aircraft systems.

“Along with these strategies, we have several other plans to ensure that we can get the maximum number of flying hours to ensure that we remain at the operational level we are required to be at,” he said. - Pretoria News