Air Force

ADF STAFF For most of post-independence history, air forces in Africa were not a priority. Expensive and difficult to maintain, air power was seen as a luxury not useful to the realities and unique threats on the continent. With tight…

ADF STAFF As air chiefs unpacked their bags and got back to work after returning from a continental symposium in Senegal, nature brutally underscored some of the themes and challenges they had discussed there. Tropical Cyclone Freddy,…

Maj. Gen. Hendrick Thuthu Rakgantswana became chief of Botswana’s Air Arm Command in 2021 after serving in the Air Force since 1986. Rakgantswana has served as squadron commander of the Fixed-Wing Air Mobility Squadron and has piloted the…

ADF STAFF Northeast Nigeria’s famed Sambisa Forest is known for its low-profile trees and dense thickets, punishing anyone foolish enough to traverse it without a machete. It spreads across 512 square kilometers in Borno State and has…

ADF staff The South African Air Force is one of the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its fighter jet fleet is among the most advanced overall on the continent, consisting of Saab JAS 39 Gripens. The air fleet includes 15 attack…

ADF STAFF The Tunisian Air Force has received the first batch of eight Beechcraft T-6C Texan II trainer airplanes from the United States. The remaining four are expected to be delivered later in August. Designed and manufactured by…

ADF STAFF Fourteen years into its fight against violent extremist organizations (VEOs) in the Lake Chad Basin, Nigeria is finding success from above, forcing militants to scatter and change tactics. Zagazola Makama, a counterinsurgency…

ADF STAFF The South African Air Force (SAAF) is moving forward with creating a Space Command Section (SASCS) to manage and coordinate defense-related space activities with the South African National Space Agency (SANSA). As defenceWeb…

ADF STAFF Thandi Modise recognized the irony of a Gripen jet roaring overhead as she delivered a speech to open the African Aerospace and Defence Expo in Tshwane, South Africa, last September. Grounded for a year because of budgetary…

ADF STAFF Whether in the deserts of Somalia, across the porous borders of Niger or along the Gulf of Guinea coast, many African nations are facing similar threats of lawlessness and violent extremism. African air forces can — and must —…