- Yes
- No
Spoiler
Introduction:
During 1990 South Africa acquired two T-72M1’s from Poland to be used in Operation Carbenet evaluation trials which took place between 5 March and 18 May 1990. South Africa acquired the T72’s in order to learn its strengths and weakness and how it compared to the South African army’s tanks and armed cars at the time. Once the trials were over South African defence firm Kentron of the Denel group, conduct further experiments by installing the ZA-35 turret, originally designed for Rooikat ZA-35 on to the T-72M1 chassis, turning the tank in a SPAAG. The ZA-35 is a two man turret which features two GA-35 “35mm” cannons with a total of 460 rounds. In order to detect incoming aircraft the ZA-35 turret makes use EDR-110 radar which can be deployed in three different positions, in order to lock a target the turret makes of the Eloptro electro-optical target tracking system.
Spoiler
Specifications:
Main Armament: two GA-35 “35mm” cannons
Shell types: API-T, HEI-T
Ammunition amount: 460 rounds
Elevation range: -8 to +81
Secondary armament: no
Radar: EDR-110
Engine: Model V46-6, V-12
Horsepower: 780 hp
Gearbox: seven forward, one reverse
Top speed: 65km/h
Weight: 30t
Crew: 3 (commander, gunner, driver)
Smoke ESS: yes
Night vision: yes
Hull armour: (front: 215mm), (sides: 80mm), (rear: 40mm)
Turret armour: (front: 10mm), (sides: 10mm), (rear: 10mm)
Spoiler
Primary sources
South African Armoured Vehicles “history of innovation and excellence” written by Dr Dewald Venter (page 79)
Surviving the Ride written by Steve camp & Helmoed-Romer Heitman (page 189)
Armed Forces November 1991 “South Africa’s answer to Mobile Air Defence” (page 5)
Secondary sources
Top War: https://en.topwar.ru/40006-zenitnaya-samohodnaya-ustanovka-za-35.html
BASTION: Military technical collection (T-72 ZA-35) magazine
Spoiler
