15 Jan 2008: ISS Today: Darfur Attack Compounds Rooivalk Shame

15 January 2008: Darfur Attack Compounds Rooivalk Shame

 

On Monday the 7th of January a clearly marked United Nations supply convoy of over 20 large and slow-moving vehicles was attacked in Darfur, allegedly by Sudanese government forces. The attack prompted UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno to declare that the joint mission between the African Union and the UN in Darfur, UNAMID, faces “probably the greatest risk” to a UN peacekeeping mission in over a decade.

 

The risk Guéhenno speaks of arises in part because of the complex and challenging political circumstances UNAMID is operating in. But, in making his statement, it seems clear that the Under-Secretary-General was thinking more of the operational challenges facing the mission. In particular he repeated a regularly expressed concern about the lack of aviation assets available to UNAMID. In a UN press release Guéhenno is quoted as stating that UNAMID would have been in a position to deter the attack, “or probably the attack would not have happened,” if night-flying helicopters had been available to the force.

 

There can be no question that helicopters, and particularly helicopter gunships, are critical to the success of contemporary operations in complex environments like Darfur. Mobility and firepower equate to considerable flexibility, which makes armed helicopters the force multiplier of choice for the modern military commander. Evidence for this is easily found. In Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, US Army Apache helicopters are regularly used to escort convoys traveling through dangerous areas. Even civilian contractors have made use of the helicopter’s flexibility for such missions. Blackwater, for example, employs small and agile Little Bird helicopters, door gunners hanging precariously from their skids, to escort State Department convoys.

 

With Khartoum’s insistence on UNAMID being essentially African in character, the most obvious supplier of helicopter gunships for the mission would seem to be South Africa, home of the much vaunted Denel Rooivalk. According to the blurb on Denel’s website, the Rooivalk is a 3rd generation attack helicopter which boasts a level of digitization that “allows unrivalled operation in the modern high-intensity battlefield”. Designed to operate in Africa’s harsh environment, and equipped with long-range Mokapa anti-armour missiles and a dual-feed chin-mounted 20mm cannon, on paper Rooivalk looks perfect for UNAMID.

 

Unfortunately, the Rooivalk is not available. Despite 23 years of development and the expenditure of around R8 billion of taxpayer’s money, the 12 Rooivalk helicopters that have been produced for the South African Air Force’s elite 16 Squadron are still not operational. In fact, until recently Denel had been talking of dropping the Rooivalk project altogether.

 

All that changed in November when Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota announced that government would pour an additional R962 million into the Rooivalk programme. The goal, according to the minister, is to get the helicopters up to operational status so that they can be deployed on peacekeeping missions. Unstated, but obviously important, is the additional goal of finally making Rooivalk attractive to potential buyers beyond the South African Air Force.

 

The obvious question that must be asked is whether this is really necessary. Is this just pouring good money after bad, a continued shameful waste of taxpayers’ money?  Would the money not be better spent purchasing – or even, as a temporary measure, leasing – operational helicopters that could be quickly deployed in support of beleaguered peacekeepers in places like Darfur? A helicopter such as the venerable Mi-24 Hind would be more than adequate to the task, particularly if upgraded to the ‘SuperHind’ that has been developed by South African aerospace company, ATE. To mangle the old proverb, is it not true that a SuperHind in the field is worth 12 Rooivalks on the drawing board?

 

Deane-Peter Baker, Editor: African Security Review, ISS Pretoria (Tshwane)