Concerns as Military’s NASD Seeks Permit to Repair Civilian Aircraft

Players in the aviation industry have opposed a push to allow the military’s National Air Support Department (NASD) to get a permit to repair civilian aircraft.

NASD is a multi-agency unit created and run by the military to consolidate and ensure efficient utilization of national aviation assets.

It was launched in December 2020 and stationed at the Wilson Airport in Nairobi to manage the planes owned by the National Police Service, Kenya Wildlife Service and other civilian government agencies. However since it’s formation, the entity has not lived to it expectations and most of the establishment put under control of nasd ended up being grounded curtailing operational support to their service. The establishment of NASD did not follow legal procedures and as of today the entity has not legally established and is not an institution within MOD.

NASD was however last year ordered to hand over the running of the police choppers and fixed-wing ones back to the police.

The other agencies had also been resisting their management.

And after the running of the aircrafts went back to the original agencies, NASD has now asked the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) to issue them with an Approved Maintenance Organisation (AMO) certificate.

This will allow them to repair civilian aircraft while still military.

But insiders have opposed the move saying it will be counterproductive.

“This is wrong if approved because it will be difficult to oversight the military in case of an issue that may arise,” said an insider who argued he shares the views of many industry players.

The insider said the process is in the final stages despite objections on the basis the agency has not met the mandatory requirements.

These include company certificate of incorporation and contract of employees or any legal document to support their establishment.

“Issuance of this certificate will jeopardize flight safety since KCAA will have limited access to oversight the military.

All personnel in NASD are uniformed and in active duty hence will be difficult to manage them.

There was no immediate comment from the military and KCAA over the issue.

In December 2020, President Uhuru Kenyatta presided over the official handover to the military the management of government civilian-owned planes in the country.

He later launched NASD at Wilson Airport in Nairobi.

NASD is a multi-agency unit created to consolidate and ensure efficient utilisation of national aviation assets.

An insider revealed the first assignment NASD undertook was to reconfigure a factory made surveillance helicopter to VIP despite the billions spent to purchase the chopper together with ground equipment based in Nairobi and Mombasa plus two vehicle based mobile unit.

All these equipments remain unutilised since the helicopter is still in their possession for VIP transportation. Worse is that it is grounded.

Then, Uhuru emphasised on the NASD mandate to provide a centralised management of national aviation assets for optimal utilisation, management and serviceability of air assets IOT enhance safety, swift response and quality of aviation services in line with the various stakeholders’ core mandates.

He regretted that in the past, lack of proper maintenance of aviation equipment within the national civilian air fleet has brought tragedies to the nation claiming lives of citizens including those of prominent leaders.

He said it was due to such challenges that the government decided to adopt a coordinated approach in the management of the country’s aviation assets.

“Indeed, the result of this approach has been poor manning, and state of aircraft serviceability in each of the individual government departments. In some cases, departments had more air assets, with less manpower while others had more manpower with fewer assets and others had low serviceability rates,” the President said.

He said the inauguration of NASD signals a new era in the management of the country’s aviation assets, one which promises greater safety, efficiency and quality, and challenged the department’s leadership to work hard to become the benchmark for other government agencies.

He assured NASD leadership of the government’s support, noting that they will be allocated adequate financial resources to modernize and put back to service grounded aircraft.

The department comprised key government ministries, departments and agencies such as KDF, Kenya Police Air Wing, Kenya Electricity Transmission Company, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Pipeline Company.