Test Flight and Development Centre SAAF
Encyclopedia
| Test Flight and Development Centre | ||
|---|---|---|
| Information | ||
| Role | Aircraft test flying and development | |
| Aircraft Operated | Various (current types include BAe Hawk Mk.120 BAE Hawk The BAE Systems Hawk is a British single-engine, advanced jet trainer aircraft. It first flew in 1974 as the Hawker Siddeley Hawk. The Hawk is used by the Royal Air Force, and other air forces, as either a trainer or a low-cost combat aircraft... and Gripen D JAS 39 Gripen The Saab JAS 39 Gripen is a lightweight single-engine multirole fighter manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab. It was designed to replace the Saab 35 Draken and 37 Viggen in the Swedish Air Force... ) |
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| Home Base | AFB Overberg AFB Overberg AFB Overberg is an airbase of the South African Air Force and is the host of the 525 squadron and the Test Flight and Development Centre. It is placed under command of the Air Office in Pretoria, Gauteng.... |
|
| Motto | Alerte (Alert) | |
| History | ||
| Date Founded | 10 August 1975 | |
| Badge | ||
The Test Flight and Development Centre is a unit of the South African Air Force
South African Air Force
The South African Air Force is the air force of South Africa, with headquarters in Pretoria. It is the world's second oldest independent air force, and its motto is Per Aspera Ad Astra...
. It is currently a test flight and evaluation centre.
History
Due to South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
's apartheid policies of the time, a number of countries instituted an arms boycott against it in the 1960s. This forced the SAAF to create an indigenous flight testing and development capability to research new technologies and methods and update old ones, and in this light a former graduate of the Empire Test Pilots' School
Empire Test Pilots' School
The Empire Test Pilots' School is a British training school for test pilots and flight test engineers of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England. It was established in 1943, the first of its type...
(ETPS) was appointed the SAAF's Chief Test Pilot in 1967 and tasked with improving and expanding the air force's test flying and evaluation capabilities. In 1974 another ETPS graduate took over, and was tasked with creating a specialised test flying and evaluation unit within the SAAF. The end result was that the Test Flight and Development Centre was officially established on 10 August 1975 at AFB Waterkloof
AFB Waterkloof
Air Force Base Waterkloof is an airbase of the South African Air Force. It is situated on the outskirts of Pretoria, and is the SAAF's busiest airbase.The base's name, Waterkloof, is Afrikaans, it means Water Ravine in English....
.
Over the next few years until the imposition of the mandatory United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
arms embargo against South Africa in 1977, additional pilots were sent to the ETPS and to EPNER
EPNER
EPNER, is the French test pilot school, based at the Istres Le Tube Airbase, France. One of the four main test pilot schools in the western hemisphere, EPNER maintains close links with the other three schools; The Empire Test Pilot's School ; The United States Air Force Test Pilot School and The...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to gain flight test experience and expertise.
By 1979, the TFDC had grown large enough to merit the allocation of one of the hangar complexes at AFB Waterkloof, and in 1980 it established a satellite unit at Van Ryneveld Airfield in Upington to conduct weapons release tests. Once the Overberg Test Range near Bredasdorp on the southern Cape coast had been completed, the TFDC moved to an adjacent airfield, now known as AFB Overberg
AFB Overberg
AFB Overberg is an airbase of the South African Air Force and is the host of the 525 squadron and the Test Flight and Development Centre. It is placed under command of the Air Office in Pretoria, Gauteng....
.
Aircraft Fleet
As of July 2011 TFDC's permanent fleet consists of:- 1x Agusta 109 LUH - #4006
- 1x SAAB Gripen D - #3901
- 1x BAe Hawk - #250
- 1x Atlas Oryx - #1200
Other aircraft are operated on temporary detachment from squadrons as well as manufacturers such as Denel
Denel
Denel Ltd is a South African state owned aerospace and defence technology conglomerate established in 1991. It was created when the manufacturing subsidiaries of Armscor were split off in order for Armscor to become the procurement agency for South African Defence Force , now known as the South...
.
Hawk trainer
The TFDC's largest running project was the operational evaluation of the BAe Hawk Mk.120 and certification of its Adour 951 turbofan engine.Weapons integration was also performed, with the SAAF's series of pre-fragmented bombs. The programme is now largely complete, with one Hawk airframe remaining on strength with TFDC, for further tests. Hawk has entered SAAF service as of 2006.
Taurus missile
In 2001 and 2002 it assisted the LuftwaffeLuftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
in the testing of the Taurus stand-off missile
Taurus missile
TAURUS KEPD 350 is a German/Swedish air-launched cruise missile, manufactured by TAURUS Systems and used by Germany and Spain. TAURUS Systems GmbH is a partnership between LFK and Saab Bofors Dynamics.-Overview:...
, for which two Panavia Tornado
Panavia Tornado
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing combat aircraft, which was jointly developed and manufactured by the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy...
aircraft deployed a number of times to AFB Overberg
AFB Overberg
AFB Overberg is an airbase of the South African Air Force and is the host of the 525 squadron and the Test Flight and Development Centre. It is placed under command of the Air Office in Pretoria, Gauteng....
from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
with the help of a SAAF Boeing 707
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
aerial tanker.
In 2009 the Spanish Air Force performed integration tests of the Taurus missile on their F-18 Hornet fighters at TFDC.
Gripen
The TFDC received the SAAF's first JAS 39 GripenJAS 39 Gripen
The Saab JAS 39 Gripen is a lightweight single-engine multirole fighter manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab. It was designed to replace the Saab 35 Draken and 37 Viggen in the Swedish Air Force...
in 2006. The aircraft is flown through an extensive test programme, integrating weapons and SAAF specific avionics etc. During November 2007, the Gripen was shown publicly taking off loaded with eight 'dumb' bombs during weapons integration trials.
Luftwaffe Kormoran Anti Ship missile firings
During 2006 the LuftwaffeLuftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
deployed six Panavia Tornado
Panavia Tornado
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing combat aircraft, which was jointly developed and manufactured by the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy...
aircraft to TFDC for live Kormoran anti ship missile
AS.34 Kormoran
The AS.34 Kormoran is a German-produced Anti-ship missile. The Kormoran uses an inertial guidance system for the midcourse phase, switching to active radar homing during the terminal attack phase. It carries a 165 kg delay-fused warhead, designed for 90mm of penetration prior to detonation...
firings with a German Navy
German Navy
The German Navy is the navy of Germany and is part of the unified Bundeswehr .The German Navy traces its roots back to the Imperial Fleet of the revolutionary era of 1848 – 52 and more directly to the Prussian Navy, which later evolved into the Northern German Federal Navy...
task group in joint exercises with South African forces.