I agree with you - South Africa's military dominance was not going to (DID NOT) last. Yes, when those nationalists movement took over, they were poorly trained guerilla armies taking over institutions which had for decades focused on fighting an insurgency, i.e. in no good position to fight a conventional SADF. In the case of Zimbabwe, SADF personnel had worked with the Rhodesians and new the country and military installations. Former RFs had joined the SADF, so South Africa had invaluable information on the Zimbabwean defenses. I would therefore conclude that for the first at least 5 years, while Zimbabwe was retraining, reorganization, re-equipping and changing command, they had no defence against South Africa. That is why at some point they needed foreign leadership in their military.
South Africa's Armed Forces situation?
- Thread starter Chino
- Start date
To contribute a little to this,
if you're intehrested in the SA Bush war in Nambia, do a search for 'bush war'. Also, you may have a look at www.acig.org, they cover the air aspect of this conflict pretty well.
Also, I recently read about a terrible accident during a live-firing exercise in SA, when a swiss-made Oerlikon *** 35mm twin AA gun went berserk and turned around, firing off its entire ammo, killing many solfiers, more than ten as far as I remember. People with experience on this gun tell me it's kinda hard to imagine how this could have happened, as the gun has security systems to prevent this and such an accident, as they say, was preciously unheard of... well... poor SA---
if you're intehrested in the SA Bush war in Nambia, do a search for 'bush war'. Also, you may have a look at www.acig.org, they cover the air aspect of this conflict pretty well.
Also, I recently read about a terrible accident during a live-firing exercise in SA, when a swiss-made Oerlikon *** 35mm twin AA gun went berserk and turned around, firing off its entire ammo, killing many solfiers, more than ten as far as I remember. People with experience on this gun tell me it's kinda hard to imagine how this could have happened, as the gun has security systems to prevent this and such an accident, as they say, was preciously unheard of... well... poor SA---
What a load of drivel
What a load of drivel, it's time you did some serious reading on the Bush War. We fought against Swapo and later helped Unita against the MPLA who were backed by the Cubans. The Anc were never in the war. The Americans dropped us in the sh1t in '75 and finally Cuba sued for peace not South Africa.
What a load of drivel, it's time you did some serious reading on the Bush War. We fought against Swapo and later helped Unita against the MPLA who were backed by the Cubans. The Anc were never in the war. The Americans dropped us in the sh1t in '75 and finally Cuba sued for peace not South Africa.
Exactly. None of the immediate neighbours can field anything to match the Olifant. The real near-term threats are instability in neighbouring countries & piracy.It's hard to get money for new tanks while the ones in charge don't see a threat.
Don't you think the kill ratio recently in CAR was good, better than anything achieved in the Bush War. Oh and 6th longest sniper kill of all time?i dont think RSA is the preeminent military power in southern Africa anymore.i would suggest Angola is.sadly the deterioration of SANDF is only set to accelarate-note the boxing of the Gripens.it makes me want to cry into my castle lager