SAAF Rooivalk Looks Set for DRC Deployment

Just on 30 years after development work started on a home-grown attack helicopter, South Africa’s Rooivalk seems set for its first operational deployment.

This is the inference drawn from a photograph circulating on social media of a Rooivalk with its customary camouflaged fuselage replaced by white paint. The photo was taken at AFB Bloemspruit, home to the SA Air Force’s 16 Squadron, which operates 11 Rooivalks.

The sighting of the white combat support helicopter comes after SA National Defence Force (SANDF) Joint Operations Chief Lieutenant General derrick Mgwebi in August said South Africa had no say in whether the Rooivalk would be deployed to support the UN Forward Intervention Brigade (FIB) in the DRC.

At the time of publication no official confirmation of the Rooivalk DRC deployment had been received from the South African National Defence Force’s.