KDF has been eyeing the jas 39 gripen for some years but it has not been included in the defence budget.
For a country with a defense budget of not more than a billion dollars the jf 17 or the south Korean fa50 is a good option. But our pilots are experienced in western aircraft so chances of buying the jf 17 is low
You saw what happened in Westgate and you think that 1B is meant to be used properly?
Haha
Fighter jets are useful too. A military force should be able to fight a wide variety of threats not just terrorists. Uganda has su 30 which I doubt will be able to fly ten years from now due to lack of money to maintain those expensive jets
Kiuliso do we need those planes? Why waste tax payers money on planes which will be flying on national holiday.
Kwanza hizo F5 makes alot of noise.
africa tuko na mchezo…
They fly all the time. Just unarmed.
The best jet for Kenya to keep and build a platform for the future is the F5.
It’s been close too 40 years since Kenya got the first jet. And yet after all this time we cannot reverse engineer the components and make a brand new modern fighter jet that goes beyond the shortcomings of the F5.
Like the ability to land on dirt airstrip and roads, capable of carrying greater firepower comparable to an F16, versatile payload options that it can carry different munitions from different countries. Add in slight stealth modifications that it can approach 5th gen fighter aircraft undetected, have a free mode meaning aircraft can be taken over from a command center on the ground and piloted like a drone if let’s say if the pilot died or ejected, Etc.
If we started doing that Kitambo we would be today flying Kenyan made jets. I say we poach some SA scientists to come and work and live here in Kenya and work on a project.
there no need giving these guys expensive equipment.Alshabaab wakituvamia we are on our own!wapewe zile crop dusters za 40B kama lazima they fly something
Hizo crop dusters are slow and can be seen not to say noisy. Can you imagine if Alshabab got there hands on some expensive manpads and fired several missles. Hio crop duster is gone. Or continues fires from a ZU-23.
Not to mention the cost of arming those crop dusters would have been expensive as hell. That’s where the real money is. You can’t just drop a dumb bomb you need to use guided munitions, smart loiter munitions, etc.
Airforces in Africa still rely on cheap unsophisticated bombs.
Watu wanaongea a future in drones na wewe bado uko kwa F16 , 1973 technology??
And what’s the difference between a F-5E fighter jet and a F16?
They were both launched the same year. They both carry similar weapon systems more or less.
There is really no major difference between an F-5E and an F16.
The War Planners should start by an assesment of all threats :-
Air - Almost None.
Sea - Al Shabaab terrorists and pirates.
Land - Mainly Al Shabaab … none of our neighbours want anything from us.
I am a great fan of Quick , Short , Hard Hitting Operations againist any enemy.
If any alien force invades the country :-
1/ suck them in …
2/ stretch them out thin …
3/ hit back at multiple soft points with small , well coordinated , highly mobile forces.
The best Air platform for this concept is obviously the Helicopter.
Mi 17 Hip.
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Mi 28 Havoc.
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ZU-23-2 Pilica.
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Assume an Army Air Corps made up of 10 Combat Units each with 10 Mi 17 Hip and 4 Mi 28 Havoc … ( … both currently in our inventory …)
Assume multiple Forward and Rear Semi-concealed Operating Bases protected by truck based Manpads ( ZU-23-2 Pilica ) and Anti-Armour missiles.
( … Helicopters require very modest , cheap , semi-prepared Landing Pads and some Cammo Nets to conceal them … )
Assume each Mi 17 will carry 33 fully equipped combat troops at 150 mph over a 300 mile radius around any Battle Field , day and night …
And they are quickly configured for MEDEVAC , Supply , Armed Ground Support ( Rockets and Heavy Machine Guns )…
The Mi 28 Havoc will perform Escort , Scout , Anti-Armour and Ground Attack.
In very short order , … you are running rings around any Invader and doing real damage …
And getting maximum bang for your bucks …
We currently support outdated , expensive and frankly useless war equipment that is of doubtful benefit …
You haven’t heard of f16 block 70. It is the latest upgrade of the f16. FYI fighter jets can be upgraded to modern standards for 50 years. Rich countries like Japan and South Korea use the upgraded version of F4 phantom
An airforce should not wait until the last minute for a threat to emerge. Flying jets requires lots of experience so that means that during peace time fighter pilots should train for the future
It takes 2 years to train a fighter pilot
Nyeff Nyeff …
Do you know the cost ( purchase , maintenance, training ) of an F16 …??
Since 1963 , how many times has KAF deployed its Jets , againist whom and with what outcomes … ??
Waste of good money , I tell you…
Get to the crux of the matter..
What causes wars in Africa ..??
1/ Despots and weak leaders.
2/ Backward Politics
3/ External interference in internal conflicts.
Will having sophisticated weaponry resolve the above issues..??
Clearly … NO…
Westgate should NEVER have happened…
The warning signs were ignored and not acted on by concerned…
The F-5E also receives constant upgrades. Singapore for instance has 40 of the similar jet as Kenya.
This jet is very capable. It’s just that at the time it came out during the Vietnam War the U.S airforce preffered going with a heavier and longer range jet from another company in this case the F-16 from General Dynamics and F-15 from McDonnell Douglas among others.
The F-5 was from a competing company, Northrop. And because the U.S airforce didn’t want it because it was a light fighter, it became an excellent candidate for the export market due it’s cheap running costs.
Otherwise the F-5 is not an inferior craft at all. Some marine units use it for training in dog fights as an aggressor plane.
Getting your hands on an F-16 might be tricky because U.S policy dictates which jet is for domestic use only and which one can be exported and to whom it can be exported.
Kenya failed to buy the f16 because of cash not US policy. The f16 has been exported to over 40 countries. There are no issues when it comes to exporting the aircraft. The only aircraft that can’t be exported is the f22
The f5 has reached a point where it can’t be no longer upgraded. It has no room for AESA radar. It is good for air to ground role. Now that uganda has the su 30 which has BVR capabilities the f5 is a sitting duck
Tufikirie drones sasa, maintain F5-Es. Na kwa sekta ya drones we should study what’s available and build a micro aerospace industry around it by producing small small ones like the Raven before transitioning to the likes of Reapers and Predators. I mean mpaka akina Turkey, Iran etc hujikakamua and build their own after RnD… Hapa ni watu kufikiria vile watakula hongo kuingiza watu wao au the like into KDF