A row has blown up over the transfer of three white trainee fighter pilots at the South African Air Force's flight training school.

But during the announcement at South African Air Force's Langebaanweg Flight Training School in the Western Cape, senior air force officials, including South African Air Force (SAAF) Chief Lieutenant-General Carlo Gagiano, hit back at critics, saying no one was being shelved or sidelined.

The three, who are to be replaced by black pilots, were to learn to be fighter pilots while receiving training on South Africa's new fighter trainer the Hawk.

The Hawk, which replaced the SAAF's Impalas, is to be used to train the country's fighter pilots who will fly the newly acquired Grippen fighter jets.

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