Anyone flying into the Waterkloof Air Force Base near Pretoria without authorisation should expect to be intercepted and escorted out or, at worst, shot down.
That is the official procedure for dealing with unauthorised aircraft.
Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told Parliament in a written response released on Wednesday that there were “standard operation procedures” for intercepting non-compliant aircraft.
“Acting against non-compliant aircraft will normally be limited to escorting them out of the Waterkloof Air Force Base and, in very specific instances, may entail the aircraft being instructed to proceed to a predetermined ‘force-down’ airfield (could be a military air base) under military aircraft escort, where they would then be instructed to land and be handed over to the relevant state authorities for further processing.
“Acting against non-compliant aircraft in a lethal manner will only be considered in very extreme circumstances,” she added.
“The air force’s responsibilities are to force down non-compliant aircraft under military aircraft escort, and under exceptional circumstances we may shoot down the non-compliant aircraft.”
Mapisa-Nqakula said that, after landing, non-compliant aircraft would be handed over to relevant authorities such as the police, the SA Civil Aviation Authority, Sars, or Customs and Excise.
She was responding to questions from Cope MP Mlindi Nhanha.
The questions followed the controversial use of the Waterkloof base by the Gupta family’s wedding guests, which involved the landing of an airliner with questionable authorisation.
In that case, the aircraft was not intercepted or seized, although it was issued with a fine by the Civil Aviation Authority for not having a foreign operator permit.
The minister said air bases did not have critical zones that couldn’t be used by private aircraft.
“Military air bases are not currently registered as national key points,” she explained.- IOL