- Yes
- No
Introduction
In the 1960s and 70s, the Eland, a domestically produced and modified version of the French Panhard AML, was the primary South African armoured car, used with great effectiveness in a series of conflicts known as the Bush/Border Wars. However, by in the 1970s, it was beginning to show some limitations, and in 1976, the South African Armoured Corps issued a new project for a “New Generation Armoured Car”. At this point in time, South Africa was under a heavy international arms embargo, so the project was going to have to be predominantly domesticaly.
The goal from the outset was for a significantly larger vehicle then the Eland, in either a 6x6 or 8x8 configuration. The first round of prototyping involved heavily modifying/rebuilding existing vehicles, and lead to the Concept 1, Concept 2, and Concept 3, all fitted with the Ordnance QF 77mm cannon taken from the retired Comet tanks.
None of these vehicles performed particularly well in trials, and the project somewhat stalled until 1980, when a second round of prototyping was initiated. The goal of these trials was to construct 3 vehicles in different weight classes, light to heavy (1-3), and assess which would be most appropriate for the needs of the SAAC/SADF. The light vehicle resulted in the Class 1, the medium vehicle resulted in the Class 2, and the heavy vehicle resulted in the Class 3.
Several vehicles were built under the Class 2 umbrella, including the Class 2B, armed with the GT4 76mm, and the Class 2C, which was front-engined with the goal of having a rear troop compartment. The Class 2C is also occasionally called the Class 2A, such as here, but from my understanding Class 2C is the correct name.
The vehicle being discussed in this suggestion in the Class 2C, the most unique of the Class 2 prototypes. It featured an 8x8 configuration, but with the rather unique (at the time) adaptation of being front engined, with the driver positioned a short distance behind the engine, and then a turret basket and troop compartment behind this. This was therefore the only Rooikat precursor that could have filled both the roles of mobile fire support and troop transport, and it bears a striking resemblance to much more modern vehicles, such the the Boxer, Type-16, and Patria, the latter of which has only just begun to be delivered to South African forces as the Badger.
The vehicle was fitted with the same 20mm turret as the Ratel 20 as part of early trials/testing. With only the 20mm, the vehicle is somewhat redundant in the SPAA/rat role compared to the much smaller Eland 20 (think Luchs vs Fox), but if it was added with the Milan missile (which is present on the Ratel 20 turret), then it would be a fantastic early IFV around 8.0 BR.
Specifications
Spoiler
Images
Sources
Spoiler
Surviving The Ride, Steve Camp & Helmoed Romer Heitman, 2014
South African Tank and AFVs (1950-2030)
