After conducting hundreds of air raids on militant positions, training camps, bases, and logistics posts, the F-5 Tiger fighter jet will most certainly retire and allow a new fleet to guard the Kenyan airspace.
Geopolitics and Defense procurement complexities has hindered purchase of F-16 fighter which could have replaced the fleet 2 years ago.
KDF has been working hard to secure an American deal but costs and maintenance contracts often obscures the deal.
However, the oil production dream and the stable economic growth promises better days for KDF pilots.
Procuring new planes requires plenty of planning and training of the pilots. Also establishing new runways for the aircraft’s is a need.
KDF lost one of the F-5 Tiger’s in Somalia along with its pilot after it crashed.
The aircraft avionics failed as the pilot maneuvered back to the airspace after bombing a foreign fighters training camp near Kismayu Somalia.
The pilot killed over 80 Al-Shabaab fighters in the airstrike.
