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Botswana Spruces Air Defence

Kishore Kumar Khera
Archive data: Person was Research Fellow at IDSA Group Captain Kishore Kumar Khera, VM (Retd) was a Research Fellow at the Military Affairs Centre in the Institute for Defence Studies… Continue reading Botswana Spruces Air Defence read more
Commentary

A Government of France, Parliamentary Report on Weapon Exports for 2017 indicated that Botswana is a recipient of MBDA air defence systems and missiles.1 France delivered 14 missile launchers in 2016 and the total value of French defence exports to Botswana is estimated at €304.2 million including MICA-VL and Mistral missiles.

Landlocked Botswana, located in the heart of Southern Africa, shares her borders with Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. A stable democratic set up since independence in 1966 has allowed Botswana to grow systematically to be one of the most affluent countries in the region. Botswana has had no major military threat to its borders. In past, during the apartheid era, the country had often got caught in the crossfire between two regional military powerhouses – South Africa and Angola. However relations between South Africa and Angola are peaceful at the moment. A real and practical threat is from small insurgent groups that may disrupt the economic and development activities. To safeguard national borders, Botswana Defence Force (BDF) was established in 1977. The BDF is small, with only 9,000 personnel.2 Operationally, its outlook is primarily defensive, aimed at protecting the country from infiltration. Its doctrine appears to be heavily influenced by its officers who have been trained in the USA.3

Past

The BDF Air Wing is very small but efficient as a contingent of only 500 personnel manages 63 aircraft including 14 F5, five O-2 aircraft along with 19 transport aircraft, five training aircraft, 16 helicopters4 and four Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)5. With the induction of Gripen (in South Africa)6 and Su30 (in Angola)7 in the region, BDF F5 will have limited capability to stop airspace violations. To ensure that the sovereignty of airspace is not infringed, Botswana is boosting its air defence network. Creation of a comprehensive air picture in real time is a first step in air defence activity. This is also essential to employ combat power effectively through combat aircraft or surface-based weapons because of the enhanced situational awareness. To achieve this, the BDF, in Phase I, in 2005, tasked Indra of Spain to develop and implement a full air defence command and control system for an amount of 7.1 million euros within a period of two years.8 The system planned for entire Botswana airspace was with one operational control centre, nine air traffic tracking and control posts to process the information from air surveillance radars. Such airspace transparency allows for active monitoring and is a key element for initiation of action against any hostile intent.

BDF ground-based air defence system is equipped with Javelin9, Igla-1 (SA-16), Strela-2 (SA-7) and 20mm Vulcan towed guns.10These air defence weapons have severe limitations in terms of range and environmental conditions. In the next phase, to bolster the air defence, better surface to air missiles were contracted for. In 2012, Botswana bought 100 Strela-3/SA-14 surface-to-air missiles from Ukraine.11 This system can engage targets up to 4.1 km range and over 7000 feet altitude. But most importantly, its seeker head is more sensitive than SA-7 and gives the missile an all-aspect engagement envelope. Its modified warhead with additional secondary charge enhances the probability of damaging the target.

Present

The most recent acquisition from France of MICA VL air defence system with 50 MICA missiles and 50 Mistral portable air defence systems, on induction, will further strengthen the air defence.12 The MICA-VL is a short range, ground-based air defence system using MICA missile, capable of being fitted with either an infra-red homing head or with an active radar seeker head. With an active seeker, major environmental limitations are overcome and a higher Single Shot Kill Probability (SSKP) achieved. Its interception range of 20 km gives BDF a ground-based area defence weapon for the first time. With such a large engagement envelope covering 1,242 square kilometre, a large number of short-range air defence weapons, earlier deployed to protect the vital areas, can be redeployed to cover a larger number of vital points. Its Vertical launch (VL) capability gives it 360-degree coverage without any restriction on the grazing angle and allows it to be deployed in constricted spaces. On the other hand, Mistral man-portable air defence system (MANPADS) is a short range weapon with infra-red seeker head and an effective range of 6 km. This range is also greater than the range of earlier held SA-7 and SA-16 systems. Overall, Botswana’s area under active air defence has increased substantially with these acquisitions.

While operationally, this is good for BDF as it is difficult to maintain and operate ageing F5 especially for air defence duties. To enhance the self-defence capability, the Air Wing of BDF is looking to replace its F-5 fighter aircraft, with the Swedish Gripenor South Korean FA-50.13 As a precursor, reportedly, in January 2017, Botswana and South Korea signed a military-cooperation umbrella agreement and simultaneously negotiations are on for eight to 12 Gripen at an estimated price of $1.7 billion.14

Future

Boosting ground-based air defence capabilities may also help in instances of use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) by other states and non-state actors. With the proliferation of UAV technology and the relatively low cost of its acquisition, coupled with minimal training required for its operation, it has become a prime threat to defence establishments worldwide. UAVs can be used as a terror tool. These can be fitted with cameras to give bird’s eye view of the intended target to the terrorists. In desperate situations, these low-cost flying machines can be fitted with explosives to create havoc at key locations or public places. A number of ready-to-make kits for UAVs are commercially available and within Africa, a number of agencies are already manufacturing UAVs. Therefore, availability of UAVs to groups with hostile intent is highly probable. To protect against UAV attacks, a number of methodologies are being employed like jamming or blinding the UAV. However, shooting it down remains the most effective method. Fighter aircraft have a low probability of intercepting low-speed UAVs because of the large speed differential. Small arms have severe limitations against UAVs flying above 1000m and in such a scenario, air defence systems with larger engagement envelope play a pivotal role. This is where the new acquisitions of BDF will be able to provide an effective cover against UAV threat.

Conclusion

While combat aircraft acquisition for self-defence capability is a long drawn and expensive process, Botswana has moved systematically to enhance its low-cost variation – by improving ground-based air defence system. Many debates are on about usefulness or otherwise of spending such a large amount by a developing country on building a military capability that may never have to be used. But military capability building is a time-consuming process. It is better to gradually build the national capability to face likely threats so that the nation is ready when the need arises.

Kishore Kumar Khera is with the Military Affairs Centre, IDSA.

Keywords: Air Defence
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