First five Rooivalk now in service
Date: 1 April 2011
The first five Denel Aviation Rooivalk Mark 1 combat support helicopters are now in service with 16 Squadron of the South African Air Force following the conclusion of a development and manufacturing programme dating back 27 years to March 1984. The cost of the programme, Project Impose, remains elusive but is said to have been over R8 billion by 2006.
Since February 2007 an additional R234 378 820.99 is known to have been spent. This is much less than the R962 667 346 that then-Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota said had been budgeted for the financial years of FY07/08 to FY10/11. He announced the figure in answer to a Parliamentary question asked by Democratic Alliance member of Parliament Hendrik Schmidt in November 2007.
Denel says in handing over the aircraft, South Africa becomes one of only nine countries in the world to have developed and engineered its own combat support helicopter. Denel last year said it took 130 modifications per aircraft to turn the current fleet into a “Block 1F” deployment baseline standard aircraft and a further nine modifications to the aircraft's ground support equipment. A major feature of the work is upgrading the sighting system on the Rooivalk for improved reliability.
The programme included “the significant remanufacturing of certain gearbox mounting components that were found to be out of specification on a number of aircraft.” The troublesome F2 20mm cannon has also reportedly been cured of overheating and reliability problems.
Denel group CE Talib Sadik said the handover was the culmination of 25 years of research, development and high-technology manufacturing. “This is a product that the South African public can be proud of – locally designed, locally manufactured and, now, ready for deployment by our local Air Force.”
The handover at the Denel Aviation campus in Kempton Park followed a rigorous testing and evaluation programme by the SAAF. Speaking at the hand-over ceremony on Friday Sadik said the upgraded Rooivalk had been tested at the Air Force’s Test Flight and Development Centre (TFDC) since the beginning of November 2010. The evaluation included day and night flight operations, target identification and tracking, cannon firing, and evaluation of the secure communications modes and self-protection features.
Denel Aviation CE Mike Kgobe added he has “received very positive reports from both the flying and ground support crews. “Our upgrade programme for the Rooivalk was completed on track and on schedule.” Denel's Group Executive Technical, Major General Otto Schür (SAAF, Retd), in September last year said the helicopter would be released to operational service “within the next eight months” when the first five fully-certified locally-designed and manufactured combat support helicopters would be handed over to the SAAF. He said the Block 1F Rooivalk will be handed over for operational duties to 16 Squadron by no later than the “end of March” - Thursday last week. “The remaining six aircraft will be completed and ready for deployment soon after,” said Schür.
The announcement follows similar news from Brigadier General Norman Minne, the Director Air Force Acquisition in the Defence Materiel Division of the Defence Secretariat in July. The air force acquisitions director said the Rooivalk fleet was grounded in November 2009 “due to some specific issues regarding the engineering support of the aircraft”. The aircraft was notably absent from the massive air defence effort to safeguard the June-July soccer World Cup and did not feature in this February's SA Army airborne capability Exercise Young Eagle, as is usually the case. It did return to the public skies at September's Africa Aerospace and Defence show.
In comments in a Denel media release attributed to Chief of the SAAF, Lieutenant General Carlo Gagiano said the Rooivalk will contribute significantly to the ability of the SAAF to fulfil its mandate in peacekeeping operations and to support the future deployment of South African soldiers.
“This is a great moment for the SAAF,” Gagiano said.
Kgobe says the recent evaluation included the testing on Rooivalk of the upgraded Mokopa precision-guided missile developed by Denel Dynamics. Live firing of the upgraded missile from Rooivalk was done in January this year at the Denel Overberg Test Range. The missile scored direct hits on targets, both at the long- and short range limits of the missile, demonstrating successful weapons carriage and release from the aircraft, missile target lock-on and missile flight characteristics, he said. As far as is known, the SAAF has yet to buy any of the missiles and for the moment the attack helicopter is armed with a chin-mounted 20mm turreted cannon and under-wing pods firing Forge Zeebrugge 70mm unguided rockets. Also available now are new Denel Saab Aerostructures designed and developed external fuel tanks that increase the Rooivalk’s self-deployment range by 50%.
The original Rooivalk was designed as “an attack helicopter and tank killer” to meet the needs of SA Defence Force as it existed in the 1980s, said Sadik. The changing role of the SANDF, which is now primarily engaged in mandated peacekeeping missions, meant that aircraft systems had to be adapted to meet the new requirements effectively. “Rooivalk is now a modern, sophisticated, combat support helicopter, ready to be used by the SANDF in any of its potential deployed operations,” he avered.
Denel Aviation will be responsible for the deeper-level support capabilities to sustain flying operations. This includes all maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work done on the Rooivalk fleet. “As design authority and original equipment manufacturer we will ensure that the Rooivalk remains fully operational throughout its assigned life,” said Kgobe.
Source: defenceWeb
