This is the South-African R2M2, a High-Explosive-Blast (HE-Blast), circular, plastic-bodied, non-metallic, pressure-initiated, Anti-Personnel (AP) landmine designed to wound or kill by its HE-Blast effect that uses an integral fuze with a steel Firing-Pin (FP) and...
This is the South-African No 2 (R1M1), a copy of the American M18A1 often called the SHRAPNEL MINE No 2, a High-Explosive-Fragmentation (HE-Frag), claymore shaped, plastic-bodied, directional, anti-personnel (AP), landmine that is designed to wound or kill by its...
The No 8 mine is a South African a High-Explosive-Blast (HE-Blast) circular bakelite bodied, Anti-Vehicle (AV) cased minimum metal anti-tank blast mine, which is designed to damage or destroy a vehicle by its HE-Blast effect with a conventional pressure fuzing.. The...
A photo of me as a (recently turned) 20-year old 2nd Lieutenant Infantryman in 1982, filling my water bottles with 'quality' water (by bush standards) at a waterhole at Umundaungilo village, Ovamboland approximately 2km from the Angolan border. These events are still...
Air Force Base Ondangwa was initially established at the Ondangwa Airfield on 2 February 1972, under the name "Playboy". The only military presence at that time in the area was at Oshakati, which fell under 1 Military Area in northern SWA. It soon became the most...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Less than a quarter of the South African Air Force’s (SAAF’s) fleet of aircraft is serviceable as budget cuts, COVID-19 disruptions and problems at Denel erode its capabilities. This emerged during a Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans (PCDMV)...
The South African Air Force (SAAF) has temporarily grounded all of it’s Gripen multirole fighter fleet as none are serviceable.According to the Department of Defence (DoD), this is due to a lack of funding for maintenance, as support contracts were not renewed in...
Tank Killers Take on Big Game A Soviet T-55 battle tank rumbles slowly through the southern Angolan countryside, its two mates in echelon close behind. The FAPLA tank commander peers nervously at every shadow, at every oddly shaped bush and rock. He knows the South...