GABORONE, Botswana — The Zambian Air Force will take delivery of an undisclosed number of trainer, transport and fighter aircraft and aerial defense systems this year as part of a major re-equipment program to improve operational and airlift capabilities.
Addressing senior Army, Air Force and Defense Ministry officials at the Air Force Headquarters Annual Ball for 2014 recently held in Lusaka, commander Brig. Gen. Jabes Zulu said the additional aerial defense assets will include a new radar system to secure national airspace.
“The expected machines include additional SF 260TW trainer aircraft, the C-27J transport aircraft, the L-15 fighter aircraft and the Mi-17 helicopters. These machines will greatly improve the aircraft capability of the Air Force and we are indebted to the government for this gesture. Allied to this is the procurement of air defense equipment such as P-18 radars,” Zulu said.
The new acquisitions will enable the Air Force to conduct training programs, beef up its border patrol fleet and build enough airlift capability to support external deployments, such as the pending deployment to the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central Africa Republic.
The Air Force’s combat fleet currently includes 12 MiG 21 aircraft, while its trainer force includes 15 Chinese-made K-8 Karakourm jets, 10 Saab MFI Safari MT-15s, and 10 MB-326 GBs and six SF-260TW aircraft by Alenia Aermacchi.
The transport fleet includes five German Dornier 28s, and two Chinese Ma-60s and 14 Y-12 aircraft. The transport squadron also operates 18 Bell helicopter variants and seven Eurocopter AS 365/AS 565 Panther aircraft.
However, most of the aircraft have broken down and it remains unclear how many are still operating or in a serviceable condition. The lack of airlift capability severely crippled Air Force operations. In November, it directly contributed to the Army’s failure to deploy 400 soldiers to a UN peacekeeping mission in the Central Africa Republic.
That deployment is still pending because the Air Force does not have the heavy-lift aircraft required to provide supplies, perform evacuation operations and move troops to and from the country during rotations.
