Akey concern of this year’s South African Joint Air Defence Symposium (Sajads) will be the development of an indigenous joint air defence capability which would be in line with the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI’s) programme to strengthen South African industry. Indeed, the theme for Sajads 2013 is ‘Integrated Joint Air Defence within the SADC (Southern African Develop- ment Community) and Department of Trade and Industry’s Action Plan to Enhance Indigenisation’. (The term ‘joint’, in military jargon, refers to integrated operations between the army, navy and air force.)

The technologies and systems required for an effective joint air defence capability are not necessarily exclusively of military value. “Joint air defence is about being aware of what is happening,” stressed Rear-Admiral (junior grade) Karl Wiesner at a recent media briefing in Pretoria. “You must have awareness. Air defence is about: How do I establish a network? How do I use that network to know what is going on around me? How do I use that awareness for effective command and control?”

He pointed out that the latest edition of the biennial symposium would take place against the backdrop of the release of the DTI’s revised action plan and the decision to place the major part of the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope in South Africa. “From the Department of Science and Technology, there is a lot of momentum to develop scientific and technological expertise within this country,” he said. A lot of the capabilities required for the SKA would also be applicable to joint air defence, and vice versa. “We want,” he affirmed, “the research and development capability within this country [to be] enhanced.”

Effective air defence capability requires equipment, people and training. Regarding equipment, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) seeks indigenisation of its future joint air defence capability to reduce its dependence on overseas industry and, hopefully, increase cost effectiveness.

The SANDF hopes to do this in line with, and as a contribution to, the DTI’s industrial development strategy. The SANDF further hopes it can be used to reinforce SADC military and industrial cooperation and integration. “We want to ensure that this indigenisation is within the SADC,” stated Wiesner. This would be in the context of the SADC mutual defence pact, which was set up in 2003, and the creation of the SADC standby force (a brigade within the African Union’s continentwide standby force). Ideally, equipment specifications would be agreed throughout the SADC and a common doctrine and training established.

“What is important for Sajads is: How do you generate awareness. And on a cost-effective basis? How can I exercise command and control?” highlighted Wiesner. “How do I become interoperable [within the SANDF]? How do we become interoperable within the SADC?”

Sajads 2013 will run from September 10 to 12 at the CSIR International Convention Centre, in Pretoria. The first such symposium, then called the South African Air Defence Symposium, was held in 1997; the current name was adopted for the third symposium. Each edition of the symposium has a ‘host service’, a role which is rotated between the army, navy and air force. This year, the host service is the South African Navy.

Previous Sajads events have helped develop cooperation between the SANDF and the local and international defence industry. They also made clear the need for an encrypted, South Africa-specific datalink, which has emerged as Link ZA. At Sajads 2009, the air defence aspects of providing security for the 2010 World Cup were discussed, helping prepare the way for the air security programme implemented during the global soccer extravaganza. Sajads 2013 is the eighth in the series (there was no symposium in 2005), and between 300 and 400 delegates, local and international, are expected to attend.