Maintenance Challenges at Air Force: Source $-$ defenceWeb

The Air Force $($AF$)$ faces a R$7\mathrm{.}7$ billion shortfall to fund aircraft support contracts over the next three years, with state defence materiel agency Armscor saying the AF maintenance budget should be two to three times what it currently stands at$.$ In a presentation to the Joint Standing Committee on Defence $($JSCD$)$ on $13$ June, Armscor noted that support contracts have not been funded adequality for a prolonged period of time. The consequences of this is reduced fleet availability, essential upgrades being postponed, and higher maintenance cost due to supporting obsolete sub$-$systems. Only the bare minimum maintenance is being done, meaning that a large recovery cost is required to $$catch up$$ on maintenance. Although Armscor is only able to place bare minimum $$on demand$$ maintenance contracts, this does not guarantee aircraft availability. On demand contracts are cheaper than availability contracts, but result in a slower turnaround time from manufacturers due to the ad hoc nature of the contract and a reactive approach to maintenance. Availability contracts are more expensive but provide guaranteed aircraft availability. Armscor explained to the JSCD that maintenance contracts are in place for all SAAF aircraft types, but most of these are not fully funded. It gave a detailed breakdown of aircraft maintenance contracts. For the Boeing Business Jet $($BBJ$),$ contracts are with Jet Aviation $($R$26$ million$)$ and Dentec $($R$58$ million$)$ for maintenance and support, but these are underfunded to the tune of R$414$ million. Major four$-$yearly maintenance is due in October $2025.$The BBJ is not fully funded as there is insufficient funds to conduct various refurbishments and upgrades in the aircraft e$.$g$.$ cabin refurbishment. Funds are only utilised for the C$-$Check and normal day to day maintenance,$$ Armscor stated. Regarding the three$-$strong Falcon fleet, Execujet has a R$110$ million contract $($March $2023$ to February $2026),$ but the full requirement is R$252$ million. C$-$Checks need to be carried on the Falcon $50$ fleet in the $2025/26$ financial year but no funds have been committed for the C$-$Check yet. $$Not funding the Falcon fleet will result in the unavailability of aircraft for VVIP transport,$$ Armscor stated. As for the transport fleet, Denel has a R$161$ million contract $($R$500$ million required$)$ for C$-130$BZ Hercules maintenance valid between January $2023$ and December $2025.$ Two C$-130$BZs have been serviced but are not operational $$due to items required under the Thales Umbrella support contract $($The Thales support contract was placed late due to funding issues$).$ Armscor warned that