Government has reassured the Zambia Air Force (ZAF) and other defence wings of its commitment to provide adequate military equipment and other support to enable them smoothen operations.
And Zambia Air Force (ZAF) Commander Lieutenant General Eric Chimese has reiterated that the Air Force command will remain non partisan and serve the government of the day diligently.
Defence Minister Geoffrey Mwamba says the Patriotic Front (PF) government is determined to equip the defence force so that it can consolidate its ability to defend the country from both internal and external aggression.
ZANIS reports that Mr. Mwamba made the assurance during the 2012 ZAF annual ball at Chambal Valley Air Headquarters Officers’ Mess in Lusaka last night.
He said government is fully aware of the critical role that the air force plays in assisting airlifting assistance and transportation of victims of disasters in areas inaccessible by road.
The minister explained that it was for this reason that government will ensure that appropriate transport aircraft and air defence equipment is provided for the Zambia Air Force.
Earlier, ZAF Commander Lt. Gen. Eric Chimese warned air force staff to remain non partisan and serve the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Michael Sata with utmost loyalty.
Lt. Gen. Chimese observed that although Zambia is a democratic nation, officers should not be swayed to get involved in partisan politics warning that ailing officers will be dealt accordingly.
He praised government for embarking on the harmonisation and rationalisation of the conditions of service in the defence forces.
Lt. Gen. Chimese said the ongoing construction of staff accommodation at ZAF twin palm is hearing completion will accommodate over 1000 families in decent accommodation.
He requested government to replicate the housing initiative to other ZAF bases in order to ease the current acute shortage of decent accommodation for officers following the selling off of the housing units to sitting tenants under the MMD’s home ownership programme.
Home Affairs Minister Edgar Lungu, Bank of Zambia Governor Dr. Michael Gondwe, Secretary to the Cabinet Dr. Rowland Msiska, Lusaka Mayor Daniel Chisenga, Zambia Police Inspector General of Police, Stellah Libongani and past Air commanders attended the function.
ZANIS
 Bawishi who prepared your speech? Internal aggression LoL. There is nothing like internal aggression but revolutions. You have external aggression and internal revolts.
The Zambian armed forces have a very rich background. The Zambia Army of pre independence Zimbabwe, the Air Force which gained KK’s admiration as “galant boys” the ZNS of production units and national service. A very rich history indeed. May be we could borrow a leaf from the US Army and Air Force which continuously enables the sharing of experience between generations of service men. The galant boys of 1975 can definitely share supersonic jet handling knowledge with the turbo props trained young pilots.Â
Do i smell ZAF getting F15’s or some Rafale jets,some MI-28 havoc attack helicopters and some Patriot SAM air defence systems? GBM is just big talk without concrete plans to re-equip ZAF which still uses obsolete museum type military equipment.
An impressive array of firepower but Zed ain’t got that kind of money.
do the procurement properly, avoid the usual temptation of kick backs and corruptionÂ
We hope you don’t get old weapons
mwapya baisa!
IT’S HIGH TIME ZAMBIA HAD A NAVY. WITH THOSE LAKE THAT LOOK LIKE SEAS SURE NO ONE THOUGHT OF A NAVY AND ZAMBIANS ARE KILLED ON BORDERS ESPECIALLY THE CONGOLESE ONES.
Its about time zed gets a qualitative & quantitative edge of modern weapons as zambia is probably the worst equiped military in the region.
Nonsense! Secure the country first with state of the art air defense technology equipment before you can even think of buying aggregation equipment. Right now the nation has been taking people to courts of law for buying outdated second hand civilian radar system. If you Dont even have a secure civilian radar system how in hell are you even going to detect when Mugabe sends his World War II jets into Zambia? Get to recruit young educated boys and girls in the sciences into the military its no longer a trade for Form V dropouts who Dont even understand drones technology. You no longer fight wars with jets and gun powder.  Unfortunately its all about education and using brains now.Take Libya and Ghaddaffi as your example.
Baneeee funny how Zambian behave,they do not need to waste ndalama kugula military stuff,use the money to buy medicines, njala yapakisa pliz, unga nao kulibe and then someone is even thinking of defense material. Ati galant boys, Masipa, military is not to be used to frustrate the opposition or political parties but to defend country against foreign attacks,katwishi ngati nayo aliko.
#4 best comment so far,please Honerable GBM Try your best to remain Honerable after being forgiven for your misguilded procurrement proceedures.Let integrity be #1 then Zambians may see some beneficial results.
This is just beer talking. The guys have no plans. They just feel they ought to say something whenever they are invited to officiate at anything. Announcements like this ought to be made in parliament.
Equipment? That is GBM speak for “I will deliver more mealie meal to you guys from my chigayo at taxpayers expense”.
One of the main reasons why developed countries have developed is because of the need to defend themselves. Millitary is an engine for developement. Because you feel you are under pressure to protect yourself, you push your reasoning to the limit and as a result develope solutions that are ahead of your problem. This country has never fought a war and to say the least, our systems have never been tested to their limits. i.e are food reserves enough to serve the country for a long peiod of time, fuel reserves, back up electricity supplies, mobile hospitals. The defence as a sector has the potential to create employment for millions of zambians. Its time we started developing our own technologies and believing in our selves. We have universities what are they for?
I love the initiative
God will continue to bless u
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