4 April 1944 | A Mosquito plane from 60 Photo Recon Squadron of the South African Air Force flew out of #Foggia base in Southern Italy to photograph the IG Farben factory 6 km from the #Auschwitz concentration camp. As a result, the camp was photographed for the first time.

Deploying the SANDF: Tactical relief rather than strategic and sustainable solutions defenceweb.co.za/sa-defence-s...

Cabinet has _finally_ announced a new Secretary of Defence: Bareng Mtimkulu. Thobekile Gamede has been Acting Secretary of Defence since December 2022! The Secretary for Defence serves as the principal accounting officer for the Dept of Defence (similar to a DG).

SAS AMATOLA sets sail for Africa! After wrapping up her port call in Malaysia, the South African Navy frigate has bid farewell to Port Klang and is now en route to Kenya. 🚢🌍⚓

Congratulations to Lt Gen Carl Moatshe, who will take over command of the South African Air Force on 1 April 2026. The Handing Over Parade was held in Pretoria today. He is taking over as Chief of the Airforce from Lt Gen Wiseman Mbambo, who retires today.

South African Navy frigate SAS AMATOLA has arrived in Port Klang, Malaysia. She is on her return voyage following a naval exercise in India. Having visited China and exercised with Singapore, her next stops will be Kenya and Tanzania before arriving home in early May.

New Chief of the SAAF named! Congratulations to Maj Gen Carl Moatshe, who will be appointed and promoted to the rank of Lt Gen as Chief of the South African Air Force wef 1 April 2026, in the place of Lt Gen Wiseman Mbambo who retires on 31 March 2026. Congratulations! 👏

Fire fighting pilots are a very special breed. Long stressful hours in a hot cockpit, flying through smoke in turbulent air, close to obstacles. Intense concentration 100% of the time. This Huey pilot survived fighting a fire in Hout Bay, Cape Town, today. They all deserve praise.

The SANDF says all deployed members were paid the full amount due to them. Deploying members were also briefed and informed about the applicable allowances for the operation during Mission Readiness Training. The R813m is allowances is split as per below. /5

South African Air Force (SAAF) helicopters are still deployed in Mozambique to assist with humanitarian operations in the aftermath of extreme weather earlier this year and have, to date, rescued 759 people and delivering much-needed food and fuel. defenceweb.co.za/aerospace/sa...

Billions of people, possibly including you reading this, are alive today because you can run natural gas into a reactor and spit out ammonia (Haber Bosch). A large % of the installed base for that process is shut in or exploded. It’s northern hemisphere spring.

Lord knows I hate what Twitter / X has become. But it's only on Twitter that I can still get real-time African reactions to the Cup of African Nations stripping Senegal of the CAF championship and giving it to Morocco. I wish Bluesky were more global. It's just... not.

It does no good to pretend that Bluesky does Middle East (or Africa) as well as XTwitter — it doesn’t (especially Arabic content), Karen is obviously right and it’s a real problem and we should take it seriously.

Armscor briefed Parliament today on the controversial R500 million tender to supply new Armoured Personnel Carriera (APC) for border protection to the SANDF. Allegedly, both Armscor’s technical evaluation team and an internal audit found defects in the awarding process. /1

The unprecedented use of violence against opposition supporters and ordinary citizens surrounding Tanzania's elections last fall has ruptured the country's image as an island of stability and an upholder of the rule of law. Here's what you need to know. africacenter.org/spo...

Pres Ramaphosa has confirmed that the first 550 SANDF soldiers have been deployed to assist the police in combating illegal mining in Gauteng under Op Prosper. This covers the period 30 January to 30 April 2026, at an estimated cost of R80.736m.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is developing a low-cost target drone for the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to replace older systems and respond to modern air defence artillery training requirements. defenceweb.co.za/aerospace/ae...

Critics often portray the SANDF as bloated and inefficient, citing that personnel costs, compensation of employees, consume around 65-70% of the defence budget. However, the SANDF is not overstaffed; it is chronically underfunded. defenceweb.co.za/sa-defence-s...

Official Change of Command Parade for the newly appointed Officer Commanding of SAS MANTHATISI (S101) today. Cdr Charles Phokane will officially hand over command to Cdr Moseki Jayson Bocheli. Cdr Bocheli served on both the Daphne and Type 209 class submarines. Congratulations!

@danellin.bsky.social @avrolancaster.bsky.social .50s and other items relating to the loss of SAAF B-24 EW161 in Krakow Home Army museum. losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/305027

Master Bomber Captain Edwin Swales (South African Air Force) won the VC posthumously on this operation. He held his damaged aircraft steady to enable his crew to escape but it crashed before he could bale out himself. losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/227371/

Four years into its war in Ukraine, Russia is not winning. By any measure, Moscow’s invasion is a total strategic failure. Within the Coalition of the Willing, we are clear that the fastest way to end the war is to increase support for Ukraine and intensify pressure on Russia. (1/2)

The Joint Standing Committee on Defence has raised “serious concerns” over the effectiveness of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee in facilitating defence imports and exports, which has led to business closures and job losses. defenceweb.co.za/industry/ind...

After a successful historic trip to the Indian port city of Visakhapatnam, the South African Navy (SAN) frigate SAS Amatola took part in the Indian Navy’s International Fleet Review and is now participating in Exercise MILAN 2026. defenceweb.co.za/sea/sea-sea/...

Deputy Defence Minister Bantu Holomisa has said the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) will consider defence export applications on 26 February after long delays and what have been termed “sustained governance failures” at the NCACC. defenceweb.co.za/industry/ind...

Wed 25 Feb is Budget Day! I do not foresee any meaningful increase in the Defence budget. But, will probably ringfence funds for: - SANDF withdrawal from the DRC - SANDF anti-gangster deployment - Reallocation of & extension of funds for frigate/sub/C-130 upgrade as all overdue.

Bloemfontein! Book launch at UoFS for my book on the history of the #Lesotho Highlands Water Project! 2 March. Hope to see you there! Virtual link here if you need it: journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/jc...

I grew up with the Washington Post, wrote editorials for the Washington Post and published a column there for more than 15 years. To watch its owners destroy it, seemingly deliberately, in just a year and a half is devastating.

and no I haven't put the Mandelson-Epstein-Reinaldo scoop on twitter we journalists *can* make Bluesky the place to break news

Donald Trump threatens to sue Trevor Noah for telling jokes at the Grammy Awards. I'm sure the self-declared free speech absolutists will be rushing to Noah's defence at any moment.

This is a truly timeless piece... harpers.org/archive/1941...

The South African Air Force will be hosting its annual Prestige Parade on Fri 30 Jan 2026, celebrating 106 years of service to the country. Some lovely videos of the various formations during practice over the AF MDW (aka Swartkop). 📹Drian Nienaber

Europe and India are making history today. We have concluded the mother of all deals. We have created a free trade zone of two billion people, with both sides set to benefit. This is only the beginning. We will grow our strategic relationship to be even stronger.

How precision tech and industry partnerships can reshape the SANDF for Africa's unfair fights defenceweb.co.za/sa-defence-s...

Mbalula also acknowledging that he is confused as to what BRICS is. Besides that BRICS is NOT a military alliance, and this cannot lead this maritime exercise, he appears confused as to whether it was China or BRICS as lead.

The President and the Min of Defence have acknowledged that an instruction was given "to all parties concerned" for Iran to downgrade to Observer status. Instructions were given, they were not followed. Now you're attempting to shift blame.

This shows a fundamental lack of understanding of how a country is responsible for its own territorial waters and national sovereignty. Don't blame China, South Africa postponed the exercise from Nov '25 when a lack of foresight saw the exercise scheduled over the G20 Summit.

WHO removing Us Flag

There are many serious governments in the world. The US is not one of them. (There are no penguins in Greenland.)

History Made!❄️ Royal Air Force athlete Flight Lieutenant Nicole Burger has made history after becoming the first South African woman to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games in Skeleton🔗⬇️

SA Navy drills: Aucamp to ensure environment not negatively impacted www.ewn.co.za/2026/01/23/s...

If you can't afford to pay, I get it. I can't afford to pay! But the reason I can't is because there's no goddamn money in journalism anymore These paywalls are attempts to make this dying field viable. When you get personally offended by paywalls, you're essentially saying we should work for free

imagine being the father or mother or son or daughter or sibling of one of those brave British troops who died in Afghanistan, and having to listen to this crass ignorance

Reminder: Exactly seven days ago (Fri 16 Jan), the Minister stated she *had* established a BoI. The Closing Pade was that day, so the report is due today. Yet the BoI members have not yet been appointed⁉️ Someone is hiding something, or just incompetence?

Jack Smith: "My fear is that we have seen the rule of law function in our country for so long that many of us have come to take it for granted. The rule of law is not self-executing. It depends on our collective commitment to apply it."

This is a very good analysis from two top ISS researchers, Tim Walker & Priyal Singh. They rightly point out that South Africa's previous approach to naval exercises was much more diversified. Those exercises were also much more complex & more useful as training for the SA Navy.

The United States has donated nearly $1 million worth of C-130 Hercules spares to Botswana to ensure its aircraft are well maintained. The US donated a surplus C-130H in May 2024 and has pledged another two. defenceweb.co.za/aerospace/ae...

It appears there are currently four SA Air Force (SAAF) helicopters flying search and rescue (SAR) sorties in Mozambique as South Africa’s eastern neighbour bears the brunt of continued heavy rain. defenceweb.co.za/aerospace/ae...