http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3098278&C=navwar
Following the example of an increasing number of countries around the world, South Africa is looking at buying one or two LPH.
Concidering that South Africa has only a very small navy, with a very limited budget (about $180 million - 2007 exchange rates) and about only 5000 personell(military and civilian), it seems to me that this purchase will be a very difficult excercise.
On the other hand it is reported that only one ship might be bought by the SA Navy with the other possibly bought by the Southern African region(meaning that it will be funded mostly by the South African Government outside of the regular defence budget with other Southern African Development Community states chipping in).
The vessels are to be used in peace support operations and no one can dispute the utility of such vessels in these roles. And since the rest of the world is mostly a willing financial donor, but a reluctant donor of airlift and boots on the ground, such a vessel would be a huge boost to peace keeping on the continent.
However such a purchase would have to be supported by the SA government with increased funding on a number of fronts. Troops to be embarked are already there. The South African Air Force posseses enough helicopters(roughly 35 Oryx;30 A109;12 Rooivalk;4 Super Lynx 300) to form an ad hoc air group and enough army and engineer vehicles are available. On paper this looks good, but yet the Air Force seems to be struggling to deploy more than two or three helicopters on peace support operations at the moment.
So, it is on the training and operations fronts that additional funding will be needed. Air groups(even ad hoc ones, need to work up for deployment and so do infantry batalions(9 South African Infantry Batalion based in Cape Town is the batalion in question so far).
The 2007/08 financial year saw a 40% increase in the training and operations budget for the Defence Force as a whole, however if one considers the years of under funding(from the 1990's), more will defenitely be needed.
A marine batalion is not a new concept for South Africa and during the 1980's the Navy had a small marine batalion of its own(capable of being deployed from the two support ships, SAS Drakensberg and SAS Tafelberg, although these were not amphibious vessels per se)
Almost all of that expertise will have been lost by now and will have to be regained.
Looking at the three possible contenders, it is my belief that the French Mistral class will be the most suitable for South African requirements. The country would in all probability not be able to embark more than 400 - 500 troops on a prolonged deployment anyway and seeing that this is the standard fit for this class of ship it would be perfect. 12 - 16 helicopters embarked would be more than enough, since the Air Force would be hard pressed to even make up that number, plus as the recent visit to South Africa by FNS Tonnere has shown, all SA Army vehicles are easily deployable from the vessel.
The Spanish design(similar to the ones being purchased by Australia at the moment, I believe would be to large, coming in at 27 000 tons displacement with too much capacity. The German design of a modified freighter would not fit requirements being too small.
As far as affordabillity goes, at the aforementioned price of about $666 million per ship, this would be easily affordable by the South African economy, since the major arms procurements(Gripen, Hawk, A109,Super Lynx 300,naval vessels are winding down over the medium term). South Africa spends less than 2% of GDP on defence(the NATO norm) and this will not have to change to effect the purchase.
These are my personal views. Please feel free to add, detract or state an opinion on the matter.
Following the example of an increasing number of countries around the world, South Africa is looking at buying one or two LPH.
Concidering that South Africa has only a very small navy, with a very limited budget (about $180 million - 2007 exchange rates) and about only 5000 personell(military and civilian), it seems to me that this purchase will be a very difficult excercise.
On the other hand it is reported that only one ship might be bought by the SA Navy with the other possibly bought by the Southern African region(meaning that it will be funded mostly by the South African Government outside of the regular defence budget with other Southern African Development Community states chipping in).
The vessels are to be used in peace support operations and no one can dispute the utility of such vessels in these roles. And since the rest of the world is mostly a willing financial donor, but a reluctant donor of airlift and boots on the ground, such a vessel would be a huge boost to peace keeping on the continent.
However such a purchase would have to be supported by the SA government with increased funding on a number of fronts. Troops to be embarked are already there. The South African Air Force posseses enough helicopters(roughly 35 Oryx;30 A109;12 Rooivalk;4 Super Lynx 300) to form an ad hoc air group and enough army and engineer vehicles are available. On paper this looks good, but yet the Air Force seems to be struggling to deploy more than two or three helicopters on peace support operations at the moment.
So, it is on the training and operations fronts that additional funding will be needed. Air groups(even ad hoc ones, need to work up for deployment and so do infantry batalions(9 South African Infantry Batalion based in Cape Town is the batalion in question so far).
The 2007/08 financial year saw a 40% increase in the training and operations budget for the Defence Force as a whole, however if one considers the years of under funding(from the 1990's), more will defenitely be needed.
A marine batalion is not a new concept for South Africa and during the 1980's the Navy had a small marine batalion of its own(capable of being deployed from the two support ships, SAS Drakensberg and SAS Tafelberg, although these were not amphibious vessels per se)
Almost all of that expertise will have been lost by now and will have to be regained.
Looking at the three possible contenders, it is my belief that the French Mistral class will be the most suitable for South African requirements. The country would in all probability not be able to embark more than 400 - 500 troops on a prolonged deployment anyway and seeing that this is the standard fit for this class of ship it would be perfect. 12 - 16 helicopters embarked would be more than enough, since the Air Force would be hard pressed to even make up that number, plus as the recent visit to South Africa by FNS Tonnere has shown, all SA Army vehicles are easily deployable from the vessel.
The Spanish design(similar to the ones being purchased by Australia at the moment, I believe would be to large, coming in at 27 000 tons displacement with too much capacity. The German design of a modified freighter would not fit requirements being too small.
As far as affordabillity goes, at the aforementioned price of about $666 million per ship, this would be easily affordable by the South African economy, since the major arms procurements(Gripen, Hawk, A109,Super Lynx 300,naval vessels are winding down over the medium term). South Africa spends less than 2% of GDP on defence(the NATO norm) and this will not have to change to effect the purchase.
These are my personal views. Please feel free to add, detract or state an opinion on the matter.