Most of the maintenance contracts state defence materiel agency Armscor has in place for the South African Air Force’s (SAAF’s) fixed wing aircraft are only partially funded at present.
This is according to a presentation Armscor prepared for the Portfolio Committee on Defence on 13 November, detailing the status of maintenance contracts for the South African National Defence Force.
The presentation revealed that the Gripen airframe maintenance contract with Saab is adequately funded, with R546 million allocated (total amount required is R650 million from September 2022 to end August 2025). Armscor noted that time is running out before the next contract is finalised, with just ten months before the current order expires.
Due to the SAAF’s tight budget, the support contract with Saab covers 13 Gripens over three years – the SAAF had 26 Gripen C/Ds, but one was written off following a ground incident. The remaining 12 will remain in storage.
GKN Aerospace has the Gripen engine maintenance contract (August 2023 to end July 2026), with R145 million funded to date out of R327 million required.
The previous contract with BAE Systems for Hawk Mk 120 maintenance expired on 31 August 2024 but no new contract is in place as the SAAF has not approved a new contract, which “poses major risk on the operations of the Hawk Mk 120. The recovery of the aircraft was progressive good in the previous order, and this lack of FA [final approval] will have a negative impact on the number of serviceable aircraft,” Armscor said.
Rolls Royce has the maintenance contract for the Hawk’s Adour Mk 951 engines, but this is underfunded (R19 million funded out of R29 million from June 2022 to end May 2025).
According to Armscor, Jet Aviation AG of Switzerland has a maintenance and support contract for the Boeing Business Jet covering July 2023 to end June 2026. Only R49 million of the R500 million contract is funded. Armscor said it is in the process of placing an order directly with a local subcontractor to facilitate the rate of delivery. Jet Aviation identified two local subcontractors to carry out maintenance work (Yes Aircraft Maintenance and Dentec).
The Falcon jet maintenance contracts with Execujet MRO Services are funded to the tune of R110 million out of a required R252 million. These contracts run from March 2023 to end February 2026. C checks will be carried out on the Falcon 50 fleet in the 2025/26 financial year. A single Falcon 900 and two Falcon 50s are in the SAAF VIP fleet.
National Treasury allocated R1 billion in the 2023/24 financial year for rejuvenating the SAAF’s medium airlift transport capability and this is going towards upgrading and maintaining the six C-130BZ Hercules. Marshall Aerospace received a R470 million contract to install Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS B) transponders and replace the secondary flight display systems on C-130BZs 409 and 405 as well as complete major maintenance work. Maintenance on aircraft 409 is underway and should be completed by mid-2025 (the aircraft arrived in the UK in August 2023). Maintenance on the second aircraft will be carried out at a date to be determined.
C-130BZ maintenance contracts with Denel Aeronautics are underfunded, with R177 million out of R516 million funded for the order period January 2023 to end December 2025. The SAAF is responsible for minor servicing while Denel is to supplement SAAF personnel to perform minor and major servicing, spares etc. The good news is the project has seen an ‘easing’ of liquidity challenges at Denel and the “contractor is delivering as per the work authorisations that are signed”. The bad news is “the period to service aircraft at the MRO facility has been longer than expected as there is only one bay at the MRO. The late funding of the Thales Avionic contract has resulted in unavailable C-130 aircraft,” according to Armscor.
C212 light transport aircraft maintenance is underfunded (R43 million funded out of R70 million required). Airbus has been contracted to carry out maintenance from August 2022 to end July 2025. The contractor has been performing well to date, and all spares and repairs have been delivered within communicated time lines. However, two aircraft require recovery after incidents. One suffered a runway excursion during Exercise Vuk’uhlome in November 2023 (only one of three C212s is believed to be currently airworthy).
The King Air maintenance contract with Execujet is funded, with a ceiling amount of R95 million. This contract runs from December 2023 to late March 2026. Armscor said King Airs 650 and 652 underwent scheduled service but 650 experienced fuel cell leaks when delivered to the SAAF and new fuel cells have been ordered. 650 received Blackhawk-upgraded Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67A engines, producing 1 050 shp up to 25 000 feet, while the aircraft’s stock engines begin losing horsepower at 15 000 feet. Both aircraft received refurbished cabins. Aircraft 651 is with Execujet for the Blackhawk engine upgrade. Funds were allocated to perform scheduled maintenance as well as the engine upgrade. The SAAF has four King Airs in its inventory.
Armscor is attempting to bring the eight-strong Caravan fleet back into service and is auditing the aircraft to see what materials are required and the timeframes involved. Absolute Aviation has been awarded a R17 million contract for Caravan maintenance, from 30 October 2024 to 30 September 2027, although R90 million is required.
Similarly, the PC-12 maintenance contract with Pilatus (June 2023 to end July 2026) is underfunded, with R32 million funded out of R50 million. The PC-12 is, however, currently serviceable after an engine overhaul and the project team is planning for an avionics upgrade in April 2025.
The PC-7 Mk II fleet is facing a bleak future, as “recovery of fleet to 25 aircraft impossible without on-demand funding.” Pilatus received R98 million for maintenance up until October 2024 and R20 million for support to end March 2025, but Armscor needs R320 million for support through to 2029 but only R95 million of this is funded. Of the 35 PC-7s in the fleet, no more than a dozen are believed to be serviceable at present.
The other fixed wing type in the SAAF is the C47-TP but this was not mentioned by Armscor as the eight-aircraft fleet is being withdrawn from service due to challenges finding a maintenance provider.
