Kenyan military outshined again by our neighbours
A wreckage of Kenyan plane in flames after being downed by Ethiopian soldiers
There a time when Kenya was a dwarf in the region in terms military strength. Every country was coming higher than us. and we depended on their good will for our security. It was the policy of the government of the day not to arm ourselves for our ‘brothers’ and rather focus our resources to building the economy and better the lives of our people.
All that changed when dictator Idd Amin allowed Palestinian and Germany terrorists to land an hijacked plane full of Israelis in Entebbe. At the time many African nations had severed their relations with Israel because of the Yom kippur war against the Arabs. so when Kenya agreed to help Israelis though rather in a clandestine manner, and the successful rescue that left the then AU chairman's forces battered and his big ego pricked, He directed his anger to a hapless Kenya and threatened to match His army all the way to our capital, I said hapless because of the following data.
Kenya was ranked at bottom with 6,500 army personnel, 700 and 730 air force and navy personnel respectively. Paramilitary GSU had 1800 men.In terms of equipment; the country had 10 ferret armored vehicles ,16, 81mm and 8, 120 mm mortars; 56, 84mm recoil-less guns, and 4 Patrol boats each with 4.4mm bofor guns.
In the skies the country had 14 combat aircraft;4 hunter FGA 9 ground attack fighters and five BAC+-167 strike masters
Tanzania was second from the bottom with; 13,000 army , 600 navy, and 1,000 air personnel. In Hardware, it had; 20 Chinese T-59 medium and T62 light tanks, 24 soviet 76 mm guns ,18 Chinese Howitzers and 37mm anti-aircraft craft guns and 12 MIG fighter jets. In the seas it had six shanghai motor torpedo boats.
SU-30 is a fighter jet operated by Ugandan air force one of the best supersonic jets in the world.
Uganda had an army of 20,000, Air force of 1,000 and a lake patrol service that made Migingo a no go zone. Uganda had boasted its army with 50 medium size tanks, 20 amphibious tanks. Jet fighters they had; 40 MIG jet fighters, and 160mm anti-aircraft guns.
Somalia was neck to neck with Uganda. They had 20,000 army; a navy of 3000; Air force of 2700, and guerilla squads of unknown number. For hardware, it had 200 Russian T-54 tanks, 310 armored carriers, 100 anti aircraft guns, 62 MIG jet fighters and 14 motor torpedo boats.
Ethiopia was the superpower of the region just like now. With an army of; 41000 personnel, Air force of 2300, navy 1500, paramilitary personnel 14,000.
The brotherliness envisaged by the founder of our nation was severely tested. Idd amin is planning to invade a poorly armed Kenya, and due to her benevolence in helping a besieged Zionist state of Israel, Kenya becomes an outcast. All strings are pulled trying to supply Kenya with weapons but not a single country of Africa will allow their airspace to used .
It took the timely intervention of Americans that brought their warship at the coast and made a fly pass in Kenyan airspace to make Idd Amin back off.
On the northern frontier, Somali and Ethiopia had locked horns on the disputed Ogaden region and in more than one occasion their war planes violated Kenyan airspace and their tanks would use Mandela as a crossing to attack Ethiopian forces. These unfriendly acts knocked the sense into Kenyatta and Kenya embarked on a serious armament and recruitment of military personnel. In early 80s after acquisition of the supersonic f-5s, the balance of power was squarely in the hands of Kenyans. At one time Ethiopian had accused Kenyan war planes of violating her airspace. Museveni though at times threatening would not dare attack or occupy any piece of our territory.
f-5E one the jets operated by Kenyan air force as is first line of defense is considered inferior to SU-30.
Fast forward to 2020, Kenya has lost its clout again. were a fare game to anybody, even al-shaabab have become a menace to our country. In the case of Garissa we had to lose almost 150 lives before the famous RECCE squad came to the rescue of KDF special forces who seemed to be firing blanks the whole morning ,while 3 terrorists rained havoc on the hapless students. We seem to be slow learners in this game of defense. Museveni is in firm hold of our migingo island, while at the coast there is a lurking danger of us becoming a landlocked country, in case the ICJ rules against us in the boundary dispute with Somalia.
Ethiopia is clearly better armed than Kenya , at present they have more tanks , more artillery, more self propelled guns more rocket launchers and they now manufacture heavy weapons while Kenya is stuck in importing almost everything . the only thing that we produce on our own is bullets at the Eldoret ordinance factory.
Russian manufactured pantsir- S1 air defense combat vehicle, this is a short range air defense system highly mobile, and is capable of engaging infantry and armored vehicles deploying auto cannons and missiles at the same time. its currently owed by the Ethiopian army
The reason why Ethiopia would shoot down a Kenyan plane is simply because, they now feel they're the only dominant force in the region and don’t care about the security pact that was signed between them an d Kenya , we cannot sleep on our laurels expecting other nations to respects pacts on a point of weakness.
Israel and Egypt after the Yom kippur war signed a treaty that ensured they will not engage against each other. But that didn’t prevent both from building some of the best militaries in the world. They say Kenya has one the best military in Africa. But the irony of it is that despite the huge budget that is annually allocated to our defense forces which currently is the highest in this region, we are stuck with some of the oldest warplanes, Uganda for example bought SU-30, everything about it is double what f-5s can offer . am not a military expert so I will not dwell much on that.
But my argument is that, the reason why Kenya's territory has been ceded to Uganda is because there is something Uganda knows that we ordinary Kenyans don’t know. The reason why Ethiopia would down our planes twice resulting in death and destruction and an egg on our faces by confirming their culpability and then their forces are also known to have made incursions into our territory and killing our citizens and while our government makes mere mention of it, is because we cant measure up to them.
SU-27, the older version of SU-30 but still better than our f-5s its operated by Ethiopian air force.
We have very advanced institutions of learning in this country and it’s the right time we utilize the knowledge that is untapped to catch up with countries like Ethiopia. the only way we can guarantee ourselves security and prosperity is when we advance in security sector. A country with a population like Ethiopia is a sleeping giant that is slowly waking up from its slumber, we don’t want to wake one day and find their tanks in Nairobi. Somalia will not remain fragmented and weak forever. If anything, they will rise up so strong with a population where 90% of their citizens know how to hold and fire a gun. They will not only aspire take our coast, but reclaim the whole of north eastern all the way to isiolo. It happened in the past in the name of shiftas. It can happen again. History has a weird way of repeating itself.
Countries like north Korea had to develop nuclear capabilities to deter constant harassment from America. Japan have embarked on reviving their military defense upon realizing they can't depend on America with a rising power like China next to their door. A country they have had a history of conflict. when these neighbors realize our weakness, they will definitely poke their fingers into our eyes. our strength will be our deterrent.
Kenyan military outshined again by our neighbours
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MY TAKE: KDF and Kenyan leaders are clever enough not to retaliate against Ethiopia army, because they know that will be the end of Jubilee regime, the same as what happened to IDD Amin.