SA urgently needs to re-equip its ground forces for African missions

2nd August 2013

By: Keith Campbell

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

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Given the current, and likely future, strategic circumstances in sub- Saharan Africa, South Africa must re-equip its Special Forces and acquire air transportable light armoured vehicles for its army, argues defence analyst Helmoed Heitman. (In South Africa, the Special Forces are considered to be a strategic asset and thus an element of the South African National Defence Force, and not an element of the South African Army.)
Earlier this year, a small force of South African Special Forces and airborne troops suffered heavy casualties in the Central

African Republic’s capital, Bangui, at the hands of a numerically far superior and more heavily armed rebel force. Furthermore, South African troops currently serve with the United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo and have been assigned to the reaction brigade specifically intended to fight rebels in the east of that country.
“The immediate urgency is the Special Forces,” affirms Heitman. “We need to expand the Special Forces. We need dedicated vehicles for them, better than the Hornet. And we need dedicated aircraft and helicopters for them, with dedicated crews.” (The Hornet, produced by BAE Systems Land Systems South Africa, is the Special Forces’ current rapid deployment reconnaissance vehicle and is a compact and unarmoured 4 × 4 design.)

“For the South African Army, we need air transportable light armoured vehicles,” he stresses. “As an interim solution, we could upgrade existing turrets from the Ratel 20 and Ratel 90 armoured vehicles and mount them on a lighter vehicle, such as the RG34.” (The Ratel 20 is the South African Army’s current infantry fighting vehicle, armed with a 20 mm cannon, while the Ratel 90 is the fire support version, fitted with a 90 mm gun. The RG34 is also a product of BAE Systems Land Systems South Africa and is a 4 × 4 armoured and mine protected vehicle.) “But, in the longer term, we need more modern vehicles.”

“The army also needs a light, precision guided weapon, to deal with such targets as snipers and technicals [pick-up trucks armed with heavy machine guns, a favourite rebel weapon in Africa, also used by some regular armies] while causing few, if any, civilian casualties,” he adds. Also desirable would be a modern, extended range, 105 mm gun/howitzer. Not only would this be easier to deploy over long distances that the Army’s current force of G5 towed 155 mm gun/ howitzers, which are much larger, but, perhaps more importantly, it would be easier to deploy large quantities of shells to feed the guns.

Furthermore, the army needs its own unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), both tactical – that can be used to escort convoys in difficult terrain, for example – and mini UAVs (which can be carried, launched and operated by infantry). “The immediate priority would be a convoy escort UAV and a mini UAV for the Special Forces,” he affirms.

The army’s heavy deployable vehicles – its Rooikat armoured cars, future Badger infantry fighting vehicles (which have been developed by Denel Land Systems from the Finnish Patria armoured modular vehicle, better known as the AMV, and which will replace the Ratels) and G5 gun/howitzers – need new logistics vehicles to support them. Of course, to deploy these troops and equipment requires an adequate modern airlift capability. Use of civilian chartered air transport is feasible only when the destination airfield is not in a combat zone.

The country’s really heavy armour – uprated Olifant main battle tanks and G6 wheeled 6 × 6 self-propelled guns – can only be deployed long-distance by sea; in an operational scenario, the South African Navy cannot do this. In a nonoperational scenario – requiring the use of a fully- equipped port to unload the vehicles – it can move only a handful at a time.
Heitman was one of the speakers at the recent Land Forces Africa 2013 conference at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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