. Viva new South Africa Viva! The apartheid government was recycling and reverse engineering other country's old planes because there were international sanctions against the racist cancer apartheid government. Now we don't have sanction so we have the liberty to buy and produce the best weapons out there. Have you not been watching the news - airliners are struggling all over the world? His excellency president Ramaphosa is working hard to crush corruption.
@Alien Viking Non-sense but if you don't like South Africa you don't have to stay here.We who love the country and are happy to be here will stay here.
Wonderful doccie - but it is so sad to see what has become of one of the finest air forces in the world as a result of budget cuts under our corrupt ANC government.
The wise Boer who educated Artisans from age 16 in schools of every municipality and town. Not one 4 year apprenticeship conducted since 1995. Not one professional artisan from high schools. DA destroyed that education system and persuaded the ANC to close the schools. Now the army, navy, air force, railways, harbours, hospitals and municipalities have zero skills to manufacture, maintain, build and produce any children with skills. The bottom 50% of every class is now condemned to be minimum wage labourers instead of professional artisans as the Boers produced like every first world nation was built. Sad stupid is the DA and every other politician and journalist who ignores the destruction of Africa for lack of Artisan education skills again at schools.
I KNOW!!!!!! (about the grounded Gripens ... pilots - can't comment about them) Well at least I was blessed enough to hear (and see) two Gripens tearing-up the skies as they arrived for the Zwartkops Airshow for Saturday!
Leona Ingram In parliament last year the Air Force stated that we have 70 pilots trained on combat jets with hundreds of flying hours each. 52 on Hawks and 18 on Gripens. In the event of war a simple conversion course can supply enough pilots to effectively fly the entire fleet.
@@jasons44 In 2020 all our Gripens are active and operational, our helicopters recently aided in rescue efforts after the storm on the east coast, they assist in patrolling the border etc. The Air Force is probably our most operational armed force. the navy is in shambles due an extreme lack of funding to maintain all of our ships. They can only do repairs and such on one ship at a time, only one is serviceable at any given time. Still, none of our neighbours come close to our operational capability even now.
Fully agree that Denel Dynamics should design and build our airplanes. They produce the best missiles in the world and drones. And lets not forget the helicopters that they design... World class. All we need is for government to come on board...... Or maybe some billionaires to come together and start their own little "Denel" which isn't owned by the government ;)
Methew I respectfully disagree with you. We need to spend more on quality education. Billions spent on new attack helicopters or fighter jet will not reduce crime and poverty. I don't think there is a country in the region which is a threat to our country -we have enough to moer any country which threatens the safety of the South African people in the region. As for big powers like the U.S, Russia, and China, we can never compete with them militarily -not in our lifetime even if we spent Billions. Only a United Africa with federal states and one army can do that, bring lasting prosperity and security.
@@thekgi1349 Growing up, all I ever wanted to be was a fighter pilot. And living in the country where the airforce pilots were well respected by other countries it only encouraged me more to be a fighter pilot for SAAF. I was 25 when I posted that initial comment because I'd been trying hard to get into SAAF but was never contacted, not even to take the initial test. I applied almost every year from 17 years old until 23. My matric marks was well above the required score and I even went on to study Electrical Engineering in hope that I would get accepted once I had a degree. I had contacted many colonels to try and also get in but with no luck. It was with a sore heart that I had to accept that it wasn't the will of God for me to be a fighter pilot and any dreams I had of flying a jet would have to most likely be done outside of the Air Force. However I've always been following the news of SAAF and hearing how the jets were being decommissioned made me quite sad and seeing this video lead me to post that comment. But being more involved with poorer communities and seeing all the tragedies in it I do agree with you. Just bare in mind that it will take more than money to fix the issues in this country and furthermore in our education system. I'm a contractor for Government now and I can confidently tell you that money has lead to corruption in the first place. What we need is for people to band together to help the poor on their own without government support and then hopefully the government will follow suite properly.
@@matthewlombard1971 Thanks for sharing a bit about your life. It saddens me that you did not reach your goal but I am pleased that you are now able to earn a living as a government contractor. My dream was to become a special force soldier. That would have been a great honour for me -I use to see those special force guys, dressed in black at a military base in Phalaborwa. They were so fit and had a sense of purpose and mission -I loved that. I could go there because my friend's parents were soldiers and lived on the base. I studied an N6 in Business Management, N5 Public Management, at Mopani South East Collge in Phalaborwa. After I tried to join the army but my parents totally refused. They wanted me to now go to University because "being a soldier is dangerous and not as glamorous as it looks". So I went to University, did my honours degree in international relations, and after tried joining the army again but I was a year too old. I went in 2015 with my application form to a military base in Venda and it did not work out. I then applied for a scholarship to further my studies in China as I was not finding a Job in South Africa. I studied Chinese language, now about to complete my Masters in International Relations and diplomacy in China. I am also teaching English part-time. I have learned that life does not always go as planned but the best thing is to work hard, hope for the best, and God will do the rest！
@@thekgi1349 Very interesting path you followed, and it's very clear to see that diplomacy studies at works in your conversation. I wish you all the best with finishing your masters. Your intentions seem well placed and maybe there are a few things I could learn from you given your diverse background. If you are able to forward me, I would be very keen to read any thesis you've written thus far or are nearing the completion of. Please feel free to DM me.
"He who owns the skies owns the battlefield." The Cubans enjoyed air superiority during the battle of Cuito Cuanavale, yet the SADF consistently outfought them on the ground.
Kascio GG UNITA had Stinger missiles. How effective were they in keeping the Cuban Migs too high to be of any use. Not so sure Cuba had air superiority in the true sense, maybe in the dying moments of the Bush War in 1988. South Africa didn't commit its jets/capital assets into Angola near the end of the campaign. I think all the capital assets were held in reserve just in case the Cubans were foolish enough to put one foot over the Namibian border. At the end of the Bush War they had pretty much destroyed the airfield at Cuito Caunavale using the G5 cannons, the Cubans were forced to move their Migs to Menongue. To add, I doubt there were any other pilots in the world at the time that could fly so low to the ground avoiding radar contact. There were many workarounds which the South Africans had mastered.
I was thinking exactly that. It’s a crime the ground troops and Mirage pilots were left vulnerable to Mig 23s because the defence industry was more interested in profiteering off foreign arms sales.
If you can call it air superiority, the reason was that our missiles were a lot inferior to the Russian made missiles. Dont know why SAAF hasnt monitor our missile capability against other types.
whos going to fix it,, the anc ????? no no ways,, thyve then broken it down to rubbish,, so how thy going to rebuild it,, why will thy want to rebuild it if thy broke it down,, in 1983 i told my father the country is going same way as Rhodesia and he got very cross with me,, well i was right, few years later it was same as Rhodesia,
I was at 89 CFS in Polokwane (Then Pietersburg) at the time. Sure will miss these beautiful birds. And as for them being remodelled or refurbished Kfirs', not a chance. The Kfir was essentialy the same Mirage 3 airframe but everything else was built and engineered buy Atlas in South Africa. The avionics and targeting systems, in particular, were way ahead of anything the israeli airforce had at that time. All built and designed in good old SA. I would say that, on equal terms regarding piloting skills, the Cheetah would more than likely have absolutely laid the Kfir to waste at every encounter. And to preempt TheRealWitblitz, all Mirage 3 aircraft were ordered directly from French arms company Dassault. Not second hand, not used from Isreal, brand spanking new.
I've heard from former Atlas engineers that Israeli engineers assisted in the design of the Cheetah and helped to remanufacture them. That's why there is a resemblance to the Kfir.
The wing and Canard are Kfir designs as I understand it, but the electronics and engine are totally different. One thing they didn't mention is top speed, the top speed was reduced by around 10 to 15% with this wing setup, but the aircraft became far more combat maneuverable, a trait I bet any combat fighter pilot would rather have
Beg to differ Bob. SA received a lot of technical help from the Israelis. There's plenty of Kfir C7 tech in the Cheetah. Otherwise how would Denel develop it all on its own over a short time span. Our R4 rifle is a Galil. Our Minister class naval strike craft were Israeli SA'AR-4 boats....there Gabriel II anti-ship missile renamed Skerpioen. The Ratel IPV is our own...
I spent many months working at these airforce bases in Northern Province... I was able to see these amazing machines myself. .. thanks for such a Lekker video
I come from the civilian side of things, but have had the honour in the process to have worked with many pilots of all sides of the F1 (az + cz)and F3 (and Cheetah) as well as many engineers that were involved with the Vlamgatte (to quote a great book title). Out of all I worked with, I respected them all. Their standard of workmanship and flying was amazing. They are a proud and I would love to say arrogant bunch (that would be lying), but standing around the braai in the Eastern Transvaal, it was always about our rides together through the mountains and never about who had been mach 2. Truth be told, didn't even know some were pilots until months later when it turned out one was actually the fleet captain on my favourite airline. SA lost its edge in 94 already, the fact that the Cheetahs were still operational in 2008 astounded me. P.S: As far as I know, the Cheetahs are now museum pieces in South America as well. I speak under correction, but some are static display already. Met a few guys from Kentron, and those guys did some amazing work on the weapons and radar of our most famous bird, which made it a great aircraft. Once spoke to an F15 pilot at Waterkloof who claimed while flying behind a Cheetah trying to get radar lock, his eyes told him the aircraft was right in front of him, but his radar and instruments was telling him the aircraft was 500 yards to the right of where he could see it.
It is so unfortunate that the joint operational exercises with Europe and USA can not take place any more, or at least at such a scale. 3 fighter plains for an exercise like that would just not be practical at all. That is about what is left of one of the oldest air forces in the world. I am a Jung Falcon member who was in the "Sijandisa" program and recruited to be trained as next generation Gripen fighter pilots and I was one of the top 5 in my class. I was however told that I will not get much flight time or may even not get in later on because I am white. They were only looking for black pilots. This I was told at two different occasions by two different air force generals. I decided that SAAF can stuff it and went on to study. I use to feel bad that I did not hang in there and push through. Well now there are barely enough plains to fill a squadron! There were also the corruption fiasco around the arms deal and lots more political nonsense that I as a South African feels ashamed to even call the SAAF an air FORCE! But these things makes me feel a bid better not staying.....
Dear Mr. de Beer: I'm sorry your country has fallen apart. On behalf of the People of the United States I wish to apologize to all of you that we only knew of what was going on from what we saw on TV, and whatever the Liberal-Bias in the Media had to say. Yours' was a really great country. We're responsible for all of it! We are! We only knew of South Africa for what we saw on TV about Apartheid, and little else. Please Forgive us. Bless you, A concerned American. :D P.S.: If you'd like help emmigrating to the U.S., I might be able to offer assistance. message me privately, or give me an email addy.
I feel the same with the Navy. I used to LOVE the SA Navy...now their ships are docked (too expensive to operate, our Corvettes has been reclassed to Frigates. Our subs are on the ground in case the sea water rust them to pieces. No, hell, our whole Defence Force is now crap...and they keep "firing" the white experienced naval personnel. The ANC just want to find jobs for all their people, no matter if they can drive a Sub, Gripen or operate in a Hospital. SA is now a disgrace...run by incompetent useless, money-grabbing "Politicians". I would LOVE to immigrate to Russia!
@@mikhael-5794 Now the Navy is run by idiots that believe the subs are used to protect civilians from "Shark Attacks" - "Eh, in the rivers and the sea, there are crocodiles and sharks, and we don't go swimming, eh, that's why we have the submarines." (para.) www.news24.com/MyNews24/of-subs-and-sharks-and-stolen-jets-20160302
Cheetah C is an IAI Nammer based on IAI Kfir with IAI Lavi technology. RSA paid 1,7 billion to IAI to develop the jet and deliver the IAI Kfir airframes. The assembley took place in SA.
The old South African government came close to building it's own Gen 4 fighter from the ground up. Apparently it was going to be super advanced. The modern systems where going to include, an onboard braai, a fridge for the Amstels, a biltong maker in the nose (to replace useless radar), electronic jamming that played epic Bles Bridges tracks in the enemy's radios and Nik Naks, fizzers and cream sodas in the ratpacks in case you crash.
OMG, i'd love a Red Heart and Coke/GingerBeer/ Raspberry Sparletta in a big Guinness pint glass, please. On one of these 40 degrees + Perth Scorcher days or 2.
South Africa should never have given up on (The Cheetah) it's own fighter jet technology. Once lost you never get it back. Sad to see the decline of a once powerful military army and Air force!!!
Actually, the next one was on the cards, was called the Lavi- sounds Israeli. What about the Badger, how much is SA paying to Finland. How much IP has South Africa given away, just to get the deal for local production. How many Co-alition lives did SA MRAP technology save. How much IP has now been stolen, by treacherous arseholes.
The wise Boer who educated Artisans from age 16 in schools of every municipality and town. Not one 4 year apprenticeship conducted since 1995. Not one professional artisan from high schools. DA destroyed that education system and persuaded the ANC to close the schools. Now the army, navy, air force, railways, harbours, hospitals and municipalities have zero skills to manufacture, maintain, build and produce any children with skills. The bottom 50% of every class is now condemned to be minimum wage labourers instead of professional artisans as the Boers produced like every first world nation was built. Sad stupid is the DA and every other politician and journalist who ignores the destruction of Africa for lack of Artisan education skills again at schools.
Cheetas are now in Ecuador,south america,we are proud of them,we also operate kfirs,but i think cheetah is better,and you know what?....our next plane will be Gripen.
I served No.7 sqn. Was a flight Lt and served 3 years between 1987 and 1990. I now live oversees because I can not get a job because of REVERDED APARTHEID -: The ANC calls it Affirmative Action. It states: No(zero) White South African male are allowed to work for Large Companies or The Government!!!!! Thanks cANCer.
Nic you are one big liar. Care to share a link to the law that states "zero white South African males are allowed to work for large companies"? While your brothers educated themselves or built their businesses during apartheid its clear you didn't prepare for a liberated South Africa. Take ownership of your short comings & cut your losses. You could only compete for work when 90% of the population weren't allowed to apply for the same jobs as you. With that being said I sincerely hope you are happy oversees & wish you nothing but the best for the future. God bless you my African brother.
Hier het dit gegaan oor die vlieèniers van die Cheeta. Soos met die ou Mirages sal die nuwe SADF nooit die ou SAW vlieèniers kan ewenaar nie nooit!. RIV ou SAW! 😢
Apart from leading innovation in the skies we South Africans are rather prominent in leading fields. Rory Burns is South African and he was the Benton car designer when Michael Schumacher won his first title and went on to design ever Ferrari car when Schumacher moved to the Scuderia. That is so gangsta!!!
Worked for Atlas Aircraft Company many moons ago..... Part of the team that refurbished and maintained the Cheetah. Also part of the team that produced and manufactured the Oryx Helicopter. Gas Turbine engines - Topaz, and Thermo for the Puma Helicopter, Manufacture of fuselage components - MPAI, Sliding, Engine Cowles and Tail Boom section, Main rotor and tail rotor blades. Testing on Rooivalk - Main Airframe structural testing. I worked with individuals that had passion, pride and love for their proffesional. Cheetah was developed as joint venture with Israel 🇮🇱 that produced their own variant of the Dassault Mirage - the IAI Kfir. Now all those skills have been lost, everyone had to find alternative employment, but our love for that industry is forever.
So is is not supplying parts good lots more scrap coming in bits and pieces. They can't think futher than there noses so is controls rsa defence force funny hay anc
@@ashtonrobbins4505 They're half the price of a Rafael or Typhoon to maintain. ANC just bleeds every bank account dry, so there's no money for anything.
Gripens are cost effective planes are expensive to maintain because spares becomes scarce and costly its old technology, alot of countries want Gripens many have bought them
i believe we used to own the sky with the f1 and mirage 3 and also with the cheetah and the gripen, but now we cant afford the ammo, so we cant own the sky
ohka on wheels The Mirage 5 was a Mirage III airframe with a larger internal fuel tank instead of a weather radar. Bomb racks that were added to the Mirage III were built on the Mirage 5 from the start. The weather radar wasn’t necessary because the Middle East didn’t have thunderstorms. Thus the Mirage III all weather interceptor became the Mirage 5 fair weather interceptor/interdictor.
to all the anc fanbois and apologetics, how can one sanely praise the abolition of knowledge, knowhow, skills and craftsmanshipb and engineering ingenuity?
To the soybois whining about teh 'whiTe GeNoCiDeZ', how can you condone policies based on the erroneous, batshit belief in racial supremacy simply for being Caucasian?
Very sad indeed to see what has become of our once proud aviation industry. Yes SA had help from Israel but... many innovations were home brew. Much ideology around beee killing off innovation and a sense of belonging in SA.
The wise Boer who educated Artisans from age 16 in schools of every municipality and town. Not one 4 year apprenticeship conducted since 1995. Not one professional artisan from high schools. DA destroyed that education system and persuaded the ANC to close the schools. Now the army, navy, air force, railways, harbours, hospitals and municipalities have zero skills to manufacture, maintain, build and produce any children with skills. The bottom 50% of every class is now condemned to be minimum wage labourers instead of professional artisans as the Boers produced like every first world nation was built. Sad stupid is the DA and every other politician and journalist who ignores the destruction of Africa for lack of Artisan education skills again at schools.
The oldest airforce in the world, and once upon a time the finest. Once upon a time our nation had the capacity and knowhow to build fighter aircraft, world leasing mobile artillery, general military equipment,.and even nuclear weapons. What happened?
Where did South Africa fight in WW2 ? Only America and Britain Served in WW2 against the nazis and the Russians . The Irish made Atlas Cheetah which is still used in Ireland and Scotland
Two things 1) Corruption paraded a different face in those days. As impressive as was a fighter on par with the US F15, the World's best howitzers at the time, an attack helicopter superior to the US Apache, nuclear weapons and many other South African weapon systems of 1980's might have been, they contributed _nothing_ to the real needs of South Africans and 2) remember the technological contribution of the Israelis and also Canadian Gerry Bull, and subtle assistance from other individuals/ agents/ nations at the time.
F-15 E 's probably C's, unless with Marlin BVRAAM and HOBS/active. I was wondering how it was getting on at Draken. Has it been beaten yet? Re:? The Torgos /MUPSOW cruise misile , are some cruise missiles like the KEPD, RAAD and the new missile from Roketsan/ Turkey using South African IP. All Seem boxy, variations of a theme noe GPS required.
Something fishy with this video. I know for a fact that the Mig 23 is better than the F3 and that the F15 was better than the Mig 23. How then is it possible for the F3 to be comparable with the F15 unless it all came down to pilot skills.
Werner Bruin Beter needs to be quantified in that statement I think. I read in an article when the USAF was here with one of their F-15 squadrons in the mid 2000s (they tied 15-15 kills if memory serves me correctly) - that they commented on the Cheetah's smaller turning circle, higher manouverability and due to it's smaller size, being extremely difficult to spot visually.
@christo bosman its totally obsolete now the gripen is a 4+ gen fighter the cheetha is 3 + gen fighter it has the air frame from the 60s with 70's upgrade with 90s avionics the cheetha would not want to be in a dog fight with the gripen
South Africa had no rival to the Elbit radar retrofitted into the Cheetah. The R- Darter is essentially an Israeli Rafael Derby without the latter's multi-tracking capability. No evidence so far of SA superiority over Israel in electro-optics and electronics, merely in long range artillery.
Better brush up on your facts, most of our mechanized artillery outperforms Israeli equipment. In fact, our tech is far ahead but finances are plundered.
from this video to ... Of the 388 aircraft fleet: 188 aircraft are grounded or non-serviceable; 60 are awaiting major rebuilds; 3 have been discontinued due to age; 27 are awaiting repairs; and 6 are currently undergoing repairs. Further shocking stats, namely that only: 2 of the 26 Gripen fighter aircraft, and 3 of the 24 Hawk aircraft are available Most concerning figure is that 233 aircraft are grounded due to a lack of spares or budget constraints to conduct necessary repairs. Yet we lost 100 billion plus due to mismanagement of money ... hell flight schools have more planes thant the SAAF. SAD very very sad ...
