The base was opened officially on 14 October 1987 as Air Force Base Louis Trichardt, named after the town at the foot of the Soutpansberg. It was built as a modern fighter base in the far north of the country, close to the Zimbabwe border, and the unofficial SAAF website still describes it as the air force’s most modern and most northern base. Its motto, Castrum Borealis, means “fortress of the north”.

Its fighter role came with the post-Border War reorganisation. 2 Squadron, which had flown Mirage IIIs and then Cheetahs from Hoedspruit since the end of 1978, moved to Louis Trichardt in January 1993, according to Wikipedia. On 7 November 2003 the base followed the town in changing its name to Makhado.

For fifteen years Makhado was a Cheetah base. 2 Squadron flew the Cheetah C and D, South Africa’s rebuilt Mirage III, until the last were retired on 2 April 2008. The first Gripen D two-seaters had arrived that month, the last two Gripen Ds came in July 2009 and the first two single-seat Gripen Cs on 11 February 2010, per Wikipedia. Of the 28 Gripens ordered in the 1999 arms deal, 26 were bought.

The new fighters soon outran the budget. The Gripens stopped flying in September 2021 for lack of a support contract; defenceWeb reported on 5 September 2022 that a Saab maintenance contract had put them back in the air, with 13 of the 25 then on strength flying and 12 stored. In April 2021 a 2 Squadron Gripen had been damaged at Makhado when an anchor cable broke during a maintenance ground run; the SANDF confirmed a board of inquiry but would not say whether it was repairable.

Leadership has turned over steadily. In July 2025 Col Josias Mashaba handed 2 Squadron to Lt Col Phumelele Ndzuta, and the base’s officer commanding, Brig Gen Orapetse Mokgwabone, reaffirmed Col Daniel Ngobeni at 3 Air Servicing Unit. Mashaba said command of the Gripen squadron demanded “a great deal of resilience, knowledge and capability”.

Makhado is the last step in a South African fighter pilot’s training. Ndzuta’s career, as defenceWeb summarised it in 2025, is the path: wings at Central Flying School Langebaanweg in 2008, qualification as a flight leader at 85 Combat Flying School at Makhado, then pilot attack instructor. 85 CFS flies the BAE Hawk Mk 120, of which 24 were bought; defenceWeb counted 23 in the fleet in 2014.

That year showed how thin the margins are. A Hawk of 85 CFS broke its nose-wheel during a touch-and-go at Makhado on 27 March 2014; neither of the two crew was hurt, and the SAAF grounded the whole Hawk fleet while a board of investigation began. Unconfirmed reports cited by defenceWeb said the control stick had locked shortly before touchdown.

The Flying Cheetahs share their base with real ones. In November 2015 the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre donated two captive-born males, Wim and Tobie, which were released on the base as “a sustainable means of controlling wildlife populations that pose a hazard to aviation safety” in the aircraft manoeuvring areas, as defenceWeb reported.

The arrangement had a painful start. On 8 December 2015 the two cheetahs walked into a hangar; when staff tried to chase them out, an officer who had moved away from the group to take photographs was attacked and injured on the back of the head, face and neck. She was treated at the military hospital, and no permanent injuries were reported. Brigadier General Marthie Visser said the officer’s mistake had been to move away from the larger group.