Publication: The Natal Witness Issued: Date: 2005-10-11 Reporter: Own Correspondent Reporter: Reporter:

Only One Missile for Four Corvettes?

 

Publication 

The Natal Witness
Date 2005-10-11

Reporter

 Own Correspondent

Web Link

www.witness.co.za

 

Gavin Woods wants answers in latest twist in arms deal saga

HAS the South African Navy only bought one missile to share between its four new corvettes? That's the question the former chairman of Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Dr Gavin Woods, wants to know the answer to.

On August 27, Woods put in a written question to the Defence Minister asking how many surface-to-surface missiles are being acquired for each of the four new SA Navy Meko class corvettes. And he also wants to know whether the funds for the missiles are coming from the Strategic Defence Package money or out the running expenses of the SA Navy.

Woods said he has not received any answer yet, but said he is certain he will receive an answer soon.

When Weekend Witness phoned the SA Navy for comment the navy declined to answer Woods' question through the media, but said it will answer it shortly "through the proper channels out of respect to Parliament".

According to evidence given before Parliament by the programme director of the Corvette Acquisition programme, Rear Admiral Jonathan Kamermann, the cost of missiles was included in the cost of the combat suites.

In Kamermann's evidence before the Public Protectors' hearings into the arms deal during August 2001 he also made it clear that the missiles are a vital part of the new navy ships: "The reason the corvette exists is to kill other ships with that weapon. All the rest is peripheral."

He also went on to explain how much the missiles cost - something not many members of the public are aware of. "They approach R20 million a piece," said Kamermann, who went on to explain that the SA Navy has reduced its order from 32 missiles to 17 in order to save costs.

However documents released to losing arms deal bidder Dr Richard Young have made Woods suspicious that only one missile has been bought - meaning the corvettes are nearly R320 million over budget.

The documents that have fuelled his suspicions were declassified by Armscor and handed to Young in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act. They give the total cost of the Corvette Combat Suite and break it down into components.

Young originally bid to supply the Combat Suite but was de-selected in favour of a company run by Schabir Shaik - brother of Department of Defence Acquisitions boss Chippy Shaik.

Under the heading "ammunition", an amount of R180 million is budgeted - this is for the missiles and their launchers.

However a launcher for an Exocet MM40 Block 2 missile, the type SA is buying, costs R20 million.

Jane's Defence Weekly correspondent Helmoed Romer-Heitman said: "The launcher itself is simply sheet metal. But the electronics in it are complex and expensive. Roughly R20 million each - and each ship has two."

This means that launchers for each of the ships cost a total of R160 million. With a missile costing R20 million, that makes R180 million Young suspects there is something rotten - and Woods is suspicious too.

Young said: "You would need to fire one missile to qualify the system and make sure it works. If I am right, that means that the only one missile has been bought to qualify the system and the rest will come out the Navy's running budget - meaning they will almost certainly not be able to afford anything else. Clearly, the ability of the Navy to operate at all could be terribly compromised. If this is the case, then we have another major scandal."

With acknowledgements to The Natal Witness.


The anomaly between the published acquisition cost and that apparent from the record has never been satisfactorily been explained.