Welcome to the SAJADS 2011 Official website

Aim of Symposium

The aim of SAJADS is to provide a forum where members of the Air Defence (AD) fraternity have the opportunity to exchange information and ideas on requirements, technology and solutions, both on a formal and an informal basis.

Symposium Theme

The theme of SAJADS 2011 is “South African Joint Air Defence: Air Border Safeguarding” in keeping with the South African Government’s strategic objectives and priorities to provide support to the people of South Africa. This is a clear manifestation that the focus is shifting from defence against aggression toward operations other than war (OOTW). The theme of SAJADS 2011 aims to stimulate discussion on the role and contribution of the Joint Air Defence (JAD) capability toward safeguarding the South African air border. Discourse is invited on this subject, focusing on three sub-themes namely Realities, Homeland Defence and Innovation.

• Homeland Defence: The move toward OOTW necessitates a new look at the nature of operational missions and the need for integration with other government departments, such as Civil Aviation, Customs and Excise, South African Police Services and the like, as well as other regional defence forces. Aspects to be addressed include:

  • Concepts of operation for Joint, Inter-agency, Inter-departmental and Multi-national (JI²M) operations.
  • Command and Control (C²) concepts and structures to support JI²M operations.
  • Doctrine and Rules of Engagement (ROE) suitable for JI²M operations.



• Realities: Employing systems optimised for defence against aggression (war) missions in OOTW necessitates careful consideration of the operational and physical environments, as well as the threat characteristics, associated with OOTW missions with the view to determine:

  • How well is the current JAD capability, in terms of personnel, organisation, sustainment, training, equipment, doctrine, facilities, information and technology suited for OOTW?
  • What adaptations and enhancements are required to ensure that the JAD capability can be effectively applied in OOTW?



• Innovation: Dwindling funding and resources place a high premium on innovative solutions for the challenges the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) face to establish and sustain effective capabilities for the wide range of missions. These challenges apply also to JAD, which should seek to:

  • Employ the latest Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to support suitable C² solutions for JI²M operations.
  • Accommodate the impact of the increasing dependency on military-off-the-shelf (MOTS) and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products, for example obsolescence management in reaction to shortening product and technology life cycles.
  • Ensure safety and effectiveness of JAD systems in the JI²M environment, with particular reference to employing the Interoperability Development Environment (IDE) Facility to verify and validate systems-of-systems interoperability and doctrine.

Target Audience

The aim is to attract people interested in the subject of Air Defence, with specific emphasis on Defence officials, Government officials, Defence Institutes and the relevant Defence Industries.

Symposium Information Guide - Download (pdf document 135.2 Kbytes)

Please note that this document requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view. Should you not have this plugin installed on your system, you can download a free copy by clicking on the logo on the left!