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Introduction
The Eland was used extensively by the South African army and was successful in a range of roles. However the Eland had limited mobility, poor ballistic protection and no mine protection for its crew. During the mid-1970’s the South African army initiated a project to develop a heavy armoured car, which would be better suited for the Southern Africa conditions, be able to provide better mine/ballistic protection for its crew and increased the fire power. The project would be known as the New Generation Armoured Car (NGAC) project. The project experimented with both 6x6 and 8x8 wheeled configurations for the armoured car, with 8x8 configurations eventually being selected. After the 8x8 configuration was selected three prototypes where created, being the Concept 1, Concept 2 and Concept 3, which is already available in War Thunder. Trials for these vehicles were held in 1979, but none of the prototypes met the requirements. Lessons learned from the NGAC project would be used in a new armoured car project during the 1980’s which itself lead to the development of the Rooikat. All three Concepts are currently on display at the South African Armour Museum in Bloemfontein. This forum post will focus on the Concept 1 New Generation Armoured Car.
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Specifications
Main armament: 77mm Mk2
Shell types: AP, HE, APC, APCBC
Secondary armament: One 7.62mm MG4 machine gun
Turret armour: (front: 25.4mm), (sides: 12.7mm), (rear: 12.7mm), (roof: 12.7mm)
Crew: 4 (commander, gunner, loader, driver)
Combat weight: 19 tons
Engine: S12-DA Bussing 6-cylinder diesel
Horsepower: 308hp
Top speed: 105km/h
Transmission: Renk HSV-106 (6 forward, 1 reverse)
All-wheel drive: 8x8
Primary Sources
Surviving The Ride, written by Steve Camp & Helmoed Romer Heitman (Page 181-182)
South African Armoured Vehicles “A history of innovation and excellence” written by Dr Dewald Venter (Page 72-73)
Secondary Source
Tank Encyclopedia: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/south_africa/rooikat.php