Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale (left) and a Kenya Air Force, Fennec helicopter which hit a tree and crashed while taking off at Chemolingot Primary School in Tiaty West.
| File | Nation Media GroupWeekly Review
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Mayday! Mayday! Sorry state of military aircraft raises concern
What you need to know:
- KDF is ranked 87th out of 145 countries in the Global Fire Power list 2023 with aircraft ranging from attack helicopters to fighter-jets.
- Global military magazine, Jane’s Defence, reveals that KDF has 14 Aerospatiale SA 330G transport helicopters, two Ukrainian made choppers.
- KDF is also listed as having a Canadian De Havilland DHC Buffalo tactical planes that have been in service since 1977, three Canadian Bombardier DHC Dash 8, and Fokker 70 for VIP transport.
A Kenya Air Force chopper that crashed in Baringo County a fortnight ago has exposed the sorry state of military aircraft.
The helicopter had been in operation for 33 years and was ferrying Ministry of Defence staff who had accompanied Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale on a tour of the North Rift.
The Kenya Defence Forces said the chopper hit a tree and crashed during take-off, and that all persons onboard “escaped unhurt”.
A senior officer, however, told The Weekly Review that most military equipment, including aircraft, were in a poor state but that officials had “failed to address this rot, which clearly endangers our lives and that of our colleagues”.
Contacted, Mr Duale simply said the claims were “not true”, without giving any details. Ministry officials as well as military officers polled by The Weekly Review declined to respond.
The Baringo chopper was one of the eight Fennec AS550C3 and AS350B3 models that were acquired in the United Arab Emirates in the early 2000s.
They were manufactured by France’s Eurocopter Engineering/Ecureuil in 1990.
They have reinforced high strength fibre glass aramid airframe, armoured seats and can carry a pilot and five soldiers.
The cockpit has night vision, GPS and VHF radio, which makes them appropriate and versatile in combat against bandits. They have a maximum cruise speed of 287km/h and maximum height of 7000 meters.
Each weighs 1,200kg and can carry up to 2,250kg. KDF has more than 110 aircraft in service with some having been in operation since independence. However, due to their age, maintenance, and financial constraints, many have been involved in accidents that have claimed the lives of soldiers and civilians over the years.
KDF is ranked 87th out of 145 countries in the Global Fire Power list 2023 with aircraft ranging from attack helicopters to fighter-jets.
Global military magazine, Jane’s Defence, reveals that KDF has 14 Aerospatiale SA 330G transport helicopters, two Ukrainian made choppers, Canadian De Havilland DHC Buffalo tactical planes that have been in service since 1977, three Canadian Bombardier DHC Dash 8, and Fokker 70 for VIP transport.
The most common aircraft under use by KDF are the 1969-made French Airbus SA330 medium transport and Puma assault helicopters. The US recently delivered 1959-manufactured Bell UH-1. The US-made light single engine Cessna 208 (Caravan) aircraft have been essential in the KDF pilot training programme. The military has 11 Chinese Harbin Y-12 utility transport planes delivered in 1997, one of which was fitted with special cameras and converted into an aerial patrol plane. KDF also operates 30 fighter-jets, including 17 F-5E and 4-5F Northrop Tiger models from the US that have been operational since 1978.
The Kenya Air Force has also operated Scottish Aviation Bulldog trainer aircraft – commonly known as Bulldog103 and Bulldog127 – since 1972. Some have been replaced by the German-made Grob 120A. There is also the Brazilian-made Embraer EMB-312 Tucano Mk 51 counter insurgency aircraft that have been part of the fleet since 1990 when 13 of them were delivered.
KDF’s fleet also comprises French Lenardo C-27 Spartan and American multipurpose MD 500 (Hughes 500) helicopters. Some of these have over the years crashed under unclear circumstances, although mostly attributed to ageing and underserviced machines. Among the recent cases is the crash on July 14, 2020, which killed two soldiers in Masinga, Kitui County. The ministry issued a statement saying the chopper was for training purposes.
However, neither the ministry nor military officials gave an explanation of the cause of the crash of the US-made light attack helicopter gunship MD 530F. It was among six helicopter gunships that the Kenya Army acquired in January, 2020.
In June 2021, 10 Kenya Air Force personnel died while 13 others sustained injuries after their chopper, Mi 171E, crashed during training in Kajiado West.
In April 2006, a military cargo plane that was carrying a high-level delegation on a peace mission crashed in Marsabit as it attempted to land in bad weather, killing 14 people on board, including five MPs.
They were Bonaya Godana, a former Foreign Affairs minister who at the time was deputy Leader of Official Opposition, Kanu, Mirugi Kariuki (assistant minister for internal security), Titus Ngoyoni (assistant minister for regional development authorities) and local legislators Abdi Sasura and Guracha Galgalo Boru.
The crash of the Chinese-made Y-12 aircraft plunged the country into national mourning and subsequent mini-elections. Then, government spokesman, Dr Alfred Mutua, who is today the Foreign Affairs CS, attributed the accident to “heavy rains in the area”.
Noting that overreliance on aerial power is out of tune with modern realities, a security consultant, Dr Gerald Majany, observes that the near-obsolete equipment could impede KDF’s operations in fighting off the security threat posed by militants, especially Al-Shabaab.
“The use of old or poorly maintained machines not only slows down our forces but it places them at a high risk. This issue must be fixed fast and first before we embrace modern warfare technology such us use of drones as well as invest in intelligence gathering,” he says.
