This support contract is particularly essential as the South African Air Force has had to manage its tight budget carefully. South Africa has recently signed a contract with GKN Aerospace, a global engineering company, for the maintenance of the engines of its Gripen...
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The F-86 Sabre in combat in Guinea-Bissau Part 1
In the context of the former Portuguese colonial empire, the territories of Guinea and Cape Verde played an important role in the maritime and air routes connecting Southern Africa, where Portugal had two important colonies: Angola and Mozambique. Furthermore, on the...
Fighting Intensifies in East DR Congo
Clashes have intensified in DR Congo’s east where the national army has deployed in areas it was chased out of at the start of the year, the United Nations and local sources said Monday. After a six-month lull, fighting resumed this month between local armed groups...
Mali Army New Fighting With Separatist Rebels in North
The Malian army said on Sunday that new fighting had broken out in the north between the military and armed rebel groups, the latest in a series of attacks on the army in the troubled West African country. The army reported on social media “intense fighting” against...
POMZ-2M Mine
The POMZ-2M is a stake-mounted anti-personnel fragmentation mine made in the former Soviet Union. The body of the mine is a cast-iron thick-walled tube with five rows of cast fragmentation "chunks". This is usually mounted on a short wooden stake. Because the mine is...
PMN Mine
The PMN is a bakelite-cased, pressure operated, anti-personnel blast mine (sometimes called the 'Black-widow'). Made in the former Soviet Union, it has been found in Afghanistan, Angola, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Chechnya, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Honduras,...
MiG-23ML
The early MiG-23 variants had a number of design shortcomings, including airframe strength and reliability, engine performance, maneuverability and radar performance. A considerable redesign of the airframe was conducted, resulting in the MiG-23ML (L - Lyogkiy or...
R-1 Rifle
The South African R1 series of rifles are based on the Fabrique Nationale de Herstal (FN) Fusil Automatique Léger (light automatic rifle) or FAL. Formally introduced by its designer Dieudonne Saive in 1951, and produced two years later, it has been described as the...
R-4 Assault Rifle
Long relying on foreign arms to stock its military inventory, the South African national army faced a dilemma of sorts when a UN arms embargo cut the nation off from outside support. The embargo began as a voluntary measure in 1963 and formed into a mandatory...
The story of the Fiat G.91R fighter bombers operated by the Portuguese Air Force in Angola
This is the short story of Fiat G.91R fighter bombers operated by the Força Aérea Portuguesa (FAP, Portuguese Air Force) in Angola [partially covered in War of Intervention in Angola Volume 1 published by Helion & Company]. None of the Fiat G.91R fighter bombers...
The Hawker Hunter and Rhodesia’s ‘Bush War
How rapidly times alter. As the so-called ‘Winds of Change’ swept through colonial Africa, the process of decolonisation gathered inexorable pace. Rhodesia was a prominent example. In July 1964, it experienced its first terrorist incident when a white farmer was...
Aselsan to Modernize Avionics of Rooivalk Helicopter
South African Denel Rooivalk attack helicopters will be modernized with Aselsan’s avionics under a deal signed during the recently-concluded IDEF-2023 exhibition. Aselsan and Denel Aeronautics signed a memorandum of understanding for the Rooivalk modernization during...