Ukijua talanta yako ni ujinga, wacha kusomea hapa and unwatch thread.
As I had told the guys who requested an overview of the helicopter, Kenya does not need the it for various reasons. Yes the Apache is good at it’s job, has all the latest technology that the Americans could dream of but in this our beloved country, having it would be useless. Here’s why:
- Price tag.
AH-64E: New Build: $35.50 million (FY 2014)
Remanufacture from old Apache: $24.77 million (FY 2015)
http://www.bga-aeroweb.com/Defense/AH-64-Apache-Longbow.html
That amount is for the unit itself. You have yet to include training, cost of spares and maintenance and the weapons themselves. For it to be effective, you have to buy atleast six of them. With 35 million dollars, that is two Mi-28’s from Russia with change left for spares, armament and training.
There’s more important things that can be done with that money. As you know, Kenya’s airlift capacity is good but those Bufallos have seen better days as the air force’s punda. There’s this good plane from Airbus, CASA-295
http://www.deagel.com/library1/medium/2013/m02013041500003.jpg
Which can be configured to do a wide range of missions. In that photo was a test for an anti-ship missile. Ikiland igeuzwe troop carrier and back to the skies. Hii hata mzee Bju Bju atafurahia kukimbiza mess pale FOB Mombasa. It’s sold at $28 million
Wars are not won on equipment and troops alone, logistics muhimu. If you cant move the troops and supplies, that apache is useless.
- Use them against who?
Kenya’s position in EA leaves us very secure as we don’t have deep seated enemies (the somalis will take at least a decade to rearm).
The Ethiopians have Eritrea to worry about and furthermore there’s a mutual defence pact between us and them, intelligence sharing is at the highest levels and so no reason to come against us. If only I had evidence of Kenyan Military Intelligence operating with Ethiopia during it’s war with Somalis. I know, stories of the Giants next to Lwanda Magere
South Sudan have a lot of issues to deal with even before thinking of facing KDF.
Uganda are more of brothers and in case of anything, there’s other ways to deal with them without firing a single shot.
Tanzania is in a defensive posture.
Where and when will KDF ever get the opportunity to use them? Cattle rustlers arent that sophisticated. The helos we have now are more than a match for al-shabaab, having this is very unnecessary in this parts, tactics muhimu and that’s why there’s a defence college.
- Pesa ya taxpayers.
Running and maintaining those expensive aircraft on budgets like ours is not easy, ask the Ugandans and South Africans. Some departments za gava zitaumia because these aircraft will require a lot of resources to maintain them.
South Africa has a relatively larger economy than ours. they had a war with Angola and as is usual after wars, military budgets are cut. Even though it was cut, it is still significantly larger than ours
SA
defence budget: $4,610,000,000
external debt: $145,100,000,000
foreign exchange & gold reserves: $44,280,000,000
purchasing power parity: $707,100,000,000
http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=south-africa
Kenya
defence budget: $595,000,000
external debt: $17,160,000,000
foreign exchange & gold reserves: $7,356,000,000
purchasing power parity: $133,000,000,000
http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=kenya
Yes, South Africa has a bigger military therefore bigger budget. However, they bought the Saab Gripen which costs around the same amount (in order to keep it flying) as an F-5. Those jets are rotated between storage and reserve service because “The SAAF does not have the money to keep the jets in operation”
http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29831%3Aa-dozen-saaf-gripens-in-long-term-storage&catid=35%3AAerospace&Itemid=107
Same story goes for the F-5. Yes they are old that I agree but one thing at a time (and these points apply). As you may have seen recently with KDF buying armoured fighting vehicles in their hundreds, KDF is turning into a mobile force. Jasiri huyo aliingia juzi na some CS akaonekana akinegotiate for another one (ama alikuwa ameenda kuchoma pesa ya taxpayer). They will come, nyinyi endeleeni kujenga nchi tutapata pesa ya kumaintain hizo vitu.
