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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
From Eye of the Firestorm, Operation Meebos 1982 9 August – a crisp winter’s morning found 61 Mech in an ambushing position to the east of the Cuvelai-Techamutete road close to where it intersected with the Mui River. The frustrations relating to the finding of the...
South Africa vs SWAPO Terrorists The story may be apocryphal, but judging by the depth of sentiment expressed when it is recounted, I doubt it. The way it was told to me by a senior member. of SWAPO's external military command in Addis Ababa a few years ago, it...