Lt Col D J Blom, Officer Commanding 3 Air Servicing Unit (ASU), addressed the Delegation on the role and functions of the Unit. One of the main aims of the Unit is to be the benchmark for aircraft maintenance in the SAAF. Clients include visiting squadrons from other countries. On avionics the Unit looks at fault isolation, fault verification, performance verification and repair. Some of the challenges facing the Unit include the sequence of construction of Gripen facilities vs Cheetah/Hawk support, the Cheetah phase-out period, scarcity of resources and the difficulty in retaining skilled staff.