By CHIMPREPORTS
A UPDF spy plane has crashed in Kasese district, western Uganda, Chimp Corps report.
The aircraft was used for reconnaissance missions in the ongoing military operations against Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militants in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The incident occurred on Thursday night.
“The crash undermines our reconnaissance capacity in Eastern DRC,” said a defence official who preferred anonymity to speak freely.
UPDF has in recent years witnessed increased cases of aircraft crashes, raising fears of mismanagement by the military’s top brass.
Contacted for comment, Defence spokesperson, Brig Felix Kulayigye said he was unaware about the accident.
“I am going to find out,” Kulayigye observed.
However, dependable sources said the UPDF Diamond aircraft has been helping Ugandan armed forces to locate ADF bases in DRC and providing coordinates for long-range and aerial strikes.
The aircraft is specially designed for carrying multi-functional aerial sensors such as cameras for surveillance and reconnaissance missions, land and sea radars, communication intelligence solutions, airborne laser scanners or large format digital aerial cameras.
Mission kits can be mounted on specific hard points located on the nose and belly of the aircraft as well as in the cabin and nose luggage compartments.
Observers say the increased aircraft accidents undermine efforts to build a strong air force to counter regional security threats and also leads to wastage of billions of shillings of taxpayers’ money.
“There is poor leadership of these critical air assets,” said a source who preferred anonymity to speak freely, adding, “the Chief of Defence Forces usually orders junior officers such as Captains who have little technical experience to deploy them and they end up crashing.”
History of crashes
In September 2022, at least 22 UPDF soldiers including experienced combat operations officers were killed when a UPDF helicopter crashed in east Democratic Republic of Congo after delivering logistics to Ugandan soldiers fighting the Allied Democratic forces (ADF) insurgents in the region.
The Mi-17, which was primarily used for transportation, reportedly hit a tree shortly after taking off and crashed on troops on the ground collecting food it had just delivered.
In July this year, a UPDF helicopter which was on routine operations in Karamoja sub region crash landed.
Last year, two Mi-24 helicopters crashed in Fort Portal and Mityana.
In 2021, a UPDF jet ranger crashed at Lido beach in Entebbe, killing Capt Caroline Busingye.
The Entebbe crash happened six days after another UPDF helicopter came down soon after taking off in Balidogle, Somalia.
In 2020, Maj Naome Karungi who was UPDF’s most senior female pilot perished alongside flight trainee Benon Wakola when their jet ranger reportedly hit a hill in Butambala district.
Interestingly, the government has never released a single report about these accidents to the taxpayers.
The UPDF has in the past five years acquired modern aviation assets including a Diamond DA 42 light aircraft from Austria, Mi-24/Mi-35P combat helicopters from Belarus, and UH-1H Huey II helicopters from the United States.
This is a developing story. More updates will be posted as more information becomes available to us.
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