Reply With QuoteDoes SA have a big homemade arms industry?
Great pics, especially the buggy!!
I have no idea - I've also seen them with the twin MG4 setup. You can't tell whether this vehicle has a single MG3 or multiple MG3's mounted from that angle. As I've said to Baboon6, I'm not an expert on this stuff - I just have a picture with a setup like that - which I'll post if I can find it. It might be the new configeration, or it may have just been a once off thing.Originally Posted by thatguy96
Does SA have a big homemade arms industry?
Great pics, especially the buggy!!
Are you sure they are MG3's or MG4's... as far as I know the SANDF used the FN-MAG?
The pictures I saw of these vehicles in Ivory Coast (maybe Sierra Leon or Liberia, with so many pictures, its hard sometimes to remember which) were definitly M1919 type weapons.
The SADF did use the FN-MAG, but we also had/have a machine-gun that we called the MG4, but it will probably be better known as the Browning Model 1919 machine-gun in the rest of the world.
See this link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownin...19_machine_gun - and look down towards the bottom. They refer to the MG4 manufactured in South Africa.
We used/use it as a co-axial machine-gun on armoured vehicles, mounted on top of vehicles in the anti-aircraft role and used in a twin mount on vehicles such as the Buffel, Casspir and Vlermuis. See the pics below:MG4: South African licence-built version of the M1919A4 in current use with the South African National Defence Forces (SANDF). Manufactured by Lyttleton Engineering, Pretoria.
In this case though I'm positive that the weapon mounted on this Vlermuis is an MG3.
Last edited by playtym; 06-15-2006 at 05:35 PM.
It is a twin MG-3 setup, but it also carries an M1919/MG4 poking out the windshield at the co-driver's position. There are other pics in this thread that show the arrangement to advantage...
OK, thanks... now I learned something... not one of the instructors I had in '72 ever refered to it as the MG4... we called it a Browning.
Don't worry, we all called it the 7.62 BMG as well. It was only years later reading the book South African Arms & Armour by Helmoed-Romer Heitman that I discovered it was actually called the MG4.OK, thanks... now I learned something... not one of the instructors I had in '72 ever refered to it as the MG4... we called it a Browning.
I've found a pic showing the triple mount I was referring to, but they have FN-MAG's mounted. I'm still trying to remember where the other pic I referred to with the MG3's is though.
Looking back through this thread I also discovered a few of my pics (including the Vlermuis) were reposts. Norwind had already put them up in March.
I am new, I am from Spain. That wonderful country almost extiguished.....
First congratulations for the Topic, very good one.
Second, my question is: is the Ratel still in service??
best regards
reccelite
Yes the Ratel is still the standard vehicle for mechanised infantry battalions in the SA Army
OK thanks!!!! I think it's a wonderful vehicle but nothing more than an armoured truck.Yes the Ratel is still the standard vehicle for mechanised infantry battalions in the SA Army
Do someone know how many armoured regiments has de SA Army?.
Best regards
reccelite
Pretty much every weapon or vehicle you've seen on this thread, with the exception of tracked vehicles, was built in SA. Most are of local design, some (like the R4/R5 rifle or Eland armoured car ) were produced under licence.
The Ratel is a range of 6x6 infantry combat vehicles which has been truly tested in battle and has shown itself to be a most cost-effective system in terms of both operational purpose and cost. In its primary role the Ratel is fitted with a 20 mm or 90 mm gun. Variants include an armoured command vehicle, equipped with a 12,7 mm machine gun or a 20 mm gun, a missile launcher, a 60 mm and 81 mm mortar as well as logistic and recovery vehicles.
I agree it has proven its "battleworthiness" but it's not perfect. I know that the south a frican army wanted to replace it by a new vehicle. Initially a derivative of the Rooikat but now it is more likely a variant of the french VBCI. Could some one confirm this??
Best regards
reccelite
Certainly the Ratel has been around for some time now, and there are new requirements that it cannot meet to the full. So far only Patria Vehicles from Finland have submitted an offer for the Ratel's replacementbased on their AMV. It will be called the Hoefyster in South Africa if adopted for service and equipped with a LIW LCT-35 turret. here are pics of the prototype-please forgive if double posts.
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