MASERU - Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's office Tšehlo Ramarou on Friday commissioned the newly acquired Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) helicopter nicknamed Thaba-Bosiu at the ceremony held at the Mejametalana Air Wing.
news
Nov. 25, 2019
OWN CORRESPONDENT
2 min read
Army gets new chopper
Army boss Lt Gen Mojalefa Letsoela
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Ramarou said it was a great honour and privilege for him to officiate the commissioning parade of the newly acquired LDF H125 Helicopter.
He said in the whole history of humanity, every nation had different needs for military forces to support its strategic and operational requirements.
For his part, LDF Commander Lieutenant General Mojalefa Letsoela said with the new helicopter, members of LDF air wing would respond effectively on call to challenges if they maintained helicopter and aircraft inventory in good state at all times as well as making sure that those who operated the aircrafts had constructive and necessary competing skills and sound attitude.
Speaking at the same event, LDF Air Wing Commander Colonel Daemane Matamane said the commissioning of the new helicopter was yet another milestone that revitalised the army as a whole to meet its strategic objectives.
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The new helicopter comes as a replacement to the old one that crashed last December in Sehlaba-Thebe during an army operation.
Col Matamane said the acquisition and maintenance of aircrafts was a complex task that needed dedicated organisations and individuals working for a common goal.
He thanked the Lesotho National Insurance Group (LNIG) and Air Bus that manufactured and supplied the helicopter. A reppresentative of Air Bus, Samuel Mlangeni said his company believed the helicopter would effectively serve the LDF and the Basotho nation at large.
The H125 is the high performance version of the single engine family, beating all other helicopters in its category in terms of performance. It is also capable of high speed pursuits and offers excellent maneuverability. It offers day and night VFR flight capability and can be customised with NVG-compatible lighting sources and instruments. It costs about M52 million.
This type of helicopters is mainly used to carry-out army operational functions.
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