Air Force Base Waterkloof

Air Force Base Waterkloof {AFB Wklf} 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. Despite the name, this base is not located in Waterkloof, Pretoria, but lies to the south of Pretoria, 4.34 nmi (8.04 km) to the northeast of Centurion, Gauteng and 3.37 nmi (6.24 km) from AFB Swartkop, at an elevation of 1506 metres (4940 ft).

AFB Waterkloof
AFB Waterkloof passenger terminal.
Control tower at AFB Waterkloof with a South African Air Force Saab JAS 39 Gripen in the foreground.
Summary
Airport typeMilitary
OperatorSouth African Air Force
LocationCenturion, Tshwane, Gauteng, South Africa
Elevation AMSL4,940 ft / 1,506 m
Coordinates25°49′48″S 28°13′21″E
Websiteaf.mil.za
Map
FAWK is located in Gauteng
FAWK
FAWK
Location in Gauteng
FAWK is located in South Africa
FAWK
FAWK
FAWK (South Africa)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
01/19 11,001 3,353 Asphalt
06/24 6,299 1,920 Asphalt

The base motto is Acquirit Qui Tuetur (He Obtains Who Defends).

Units currently hosted


  • 111 Squadron – Light transport (reserve)
  • 140 Squadron – Light transport (reserve)
  • 504 Squadron – Security
  • 5 Air Servicing Unit – Maintenance support
  • Central Photographic Institute – Photographic services
  • JARIC, (Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre) The SANDF National Imagery Exploitation Centre – Strategic Imagery Intelligence (IMINT) support
  • Mobile Deployment Wing – Emergency response
  • SAAF Telecommunications Centre – Communications
  • Ditholo Training Area is managed as an external component of AFB Waterkloof

History

The base was officially opened on 1 August 1938 as Waterkloof Air Station.[1] Since that time it has always been in the service of the SAAF. It was upgraded to Air Force Base during World War II.

Aviation

Controversy

On 30 April 2013 a flight full of Indian citizens who had come to attend a wedding of the Gupta family landed at Waterkloof airbase. This was in contravention of South African law since the airbase is classified as a National Key Point. It was later alleged that former president Jacob Zuma is the one who ordered the flight to land.[2] The incident would later earn the monkier "Guptagate" in the South African media.[3]

In April 2023 the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and his family landed at the base during their vacation to a South African game lodge in the Eastern Cape. This resulted in comparisons with the landing of Gupta family members at the base 10 years before whilst also closely following the unsuccessful extradition of the Guptas from custody in the UAE to face trail for corruption in South Africa.[4][5]

In May 2023, a year after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a US-sanctioned Russian transport plane landed at the airport carrying an unknown cargo. The landing further strained South African-United States relations by increasing American skepticism of South Africa's self-proclaimed neutral stance in the conflict.[6][7][8]

References
  • "World Aeronautical Database". Archived from the original on 29 September 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2009.

Notes
  1. "Waterkloof Airbase". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
  2. "The Guptas and their links to South Africa's Jacob Zuma". BBC News. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  3. "Gupta family seen as symbol of Zuma's failing rule". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  4. Dentlinger, Lindsay. "Cope, ATM call on Ramaphosa to justify UAE president's 'backdoor entry' into SA". ewn.co.za. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  5. Dayimani, Malibongwe. "10 years since the Guptas at Waterkloof, UAE royals quietly landed at a South African military base". News24. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  6. Fabricius, Peter (7 May 2023). "INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: The landing of a sanctioned Russian plane at Waterkloof undermines Mufamadi's US mission". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  7. Chutel, Lynsey; Eligon, John (4 May 2023). "South Africa Allowed Russian Plane Under U.S. Sanctions to Land at Base". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  8. Gibson, Erika (4 May 2023). "Russian aircraft of sanctioned firm in stealth Waterkloof landing". BusinessLIVE. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
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