UPDF Spy Plane Reportedly Crashes in Kasese

A UPDF spy plane has crashed in Kasese district, western Uganda, According to Chimpreports.

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.”

Source: ChimpReports