South African Army

From Roach Busters

South African Army
Active	1912 -
Country	South Africa
Branch	Army
Size	230,000 active personnel
Part of	Ministry of Defence and National Security
Headquarters	Pretoria
Engagements	World War I World War II Angolan Civil War
Commanders
Commander-in-Chief	State President Festus Mogae
Commander	Lieutenant General Ken Walls
Notable commanders	Louis Botha Jan Smuts Isaac Pierre de Villiers Petrus Jacobs

The South African Army is the branch of the South African military tasked with the land defense of the nation. It is the largest, best-trained, and best-equipped branch of the military, and is the backbone of the armed forces. It operates large expeditionary and fixed land forces to accomplish its missions.

A highly mechanized and rapidly deployable force, the South African Army is the most powerful on the continent by a wide margin. Employing 230,000 personnel in active duty and another 210,000 in the reserves, it is also one of the largest. Rigorous training standards and top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art weapons ensure that the Army always operates at peak efficiency and is capable of confronting any adversary on the battlefield.

While much of the South African Army's hardware is procured abroad, a large percentage of it is indigenously produced, making it largely self-sufficient. South African equipment is specially designed to accomodate its diverse climate, and most of its armored vehicles are both light and maneuverable while also highly resistant to mines.

The State President serves as the ceremonial commander-in-chief of the Army. The Army's military commander is Lieutenant General Ken Walls.

Contents 1 Organization 1.1 Active units 1.1.1 South African Armoured Corps 1.1.2 South African Infantry Corps 1.1.2.1 Divisions 1.1.2.2 Brigades 1.1.3 South African Artillery 1.1.4 South African Engineers 1.1.5 South African Special Forces 1.2 Reserve units 1.2.1 Armour 1.2.2 Infantry 1.2.3 Artillery 1.2.4 Engineers 2 Equipment 2.1 Individual weapons 2.2 Artillery and missiles 2.3 Armored vehicles 2.4 Non-combat vehicles 2.5 Aircraft

Organization

Active units

South African Armoured Corps

• 1 Special Service Division
• 1 South African Tank Division

South African Infantry Corps

Divisions

• 44 Parachute Division

Brigades

• 1 South African Infantry Brigade
• 3 Infantry Brigade Training Depot
• 4 South African Infantry Brigade
• 5 South African Infantry Brigade
• 6 South African Infantry Brigade
• 7 South African Infantry Brigade
• 8 South African Infantry Brigade
• 9 South African Infantry Brigade (amphibious)
• 10 South African Infantry Brigade
• 14 South African Infantry Brigade
• 15 South African Infantry Brigade
• 61 Mechanised Infantry Brigade Group
• 115 South African Infantry Brigade
• 116 South African Infantry Brigade
• 118 South African Infantry Brigade
• 121 South African Infantry Brigade

South African Artillery

• 4 Artillery Division
• 10 Air Defence Division

South African Engineers

• 2 Field Engineer Brigade
• 14 Engineer Brigade
• 35 Engineer Support Brigade
• 1 Construction Engineer Brigade
• 1 Military Printing Brigade
• 4 Survey and Mapping Brigade

South African Special Forces

• 5 Special Forces Division

Reserve units

Armour

• Light Horse Brigade
• Natal Mounted Rifles Brigade
• Umvoti Mounted Rifles Brigade
• Pretoria Brigade
• Limpopo River Brigade
• Zambezi River Brigade
• President Kruger Brigade

Infantry

• Cape Town Highlanders Brigade
• Cape Town Rifles Brigade
• Durban Light Infantry Brigade
• Durban Brigade
• Johannesburg Brigade
• Lusaka Volunteer Rifles Brigade
• Blantyre Brigade
• Lilongwe Carbineers Brigade
• Prince Alfred's Guard Brigade
• Rand Light Infantry Brigade
• Copperbelt Brigade
• Jan Smuts Brigade
• Nelson Mandela Brigade
• Salisbury Brigade
• Gaboronne Brigade
• Maseru Brigade
• Mbabane Brigade
• Walvis Bay Rifles Brigade
• First City Brigade
• Windhoek Brigade

Artillery

• Cape Field Artillery Brigade
• Natal Field Artillery Brigade
• Transvaal Horse Artillery Brigade
• Stellenbosch University Brigade
• Transvaal State Artillery Brigade
• Free State Artillery Brigade
• Pretoria Highlanders Brigade
• 6 Light AA Brigade
• Cape Garrison Artillery Brigade
• East Transvaal Brigade
• South-West Africa Horse Artillery Brigade
• Lake Malawi Garrison Artillery Brigade

Engineers

• 3 Field Engineer Brigade
• 6 Field Engineer Brigade
• 19 Field Engineer Brigade

Equipment

Individual weapons

• Z88 9×19mm semi-automatic pistol
• SP1 9×19mm semi-automatic pistol
• SP2 .40 S&W semi-automatic pistol
• CR-21 5.56×45mm assault rifle
• R4 5.56×45mm assault rifle
• R5 5.56×45mm carbine
• R6 5.56×45mm carbine
• NTW-20 20×110mm anti-materiel rifle
• Galil Sniper 7.62×51mm designated marksman rifle
• Armsel Striker 12 gauge shotgun
• BXP 9×19mm submachine gun
• SS-77 7.62×51mm general purpose machine gun
• Y3 AGL 40mm grenade launcher
• MGL Mk-1 40mm grenade launcher
• RPG-7 40mm grenade launcher

Artillery and missiles

• G1 88mm towed howitzer
• G2 140mm towed howitzer
• G4 155mm towed howitzer
• G5 155mm towed howitzer
• G7 105mm towed howitzer
• L118 Light Gun 105mm towed howitzer
• L-5 105mm pack howitzer
• G6 155mm self-propelled howitzer
• Rascal 155mm self-propelled howitzer
• Bateleur 127mm 40 tube self-propelled multiple rocket launcher
• Valkiri-22 24 tube self-propelled multiple rocket launcher
• Valkiri-5 towed multiple rocket launcher
• M3 81mm mortar
• Vasliyek 82mm automatic mortar
• M-43 120mm mortar
• Brandt 120mm mortar
• ZT-3 Swift anti-tank guided weapon
• Milan anti-tank guided weapon
• FT-5 92mm rocket launcher
• Carl Gustav 84mm recoilless launcher
• M-40A1 106mm recoilless launcher
• 20mm self-propelled air defense gun
• 23mm self-propelled air defense gun
• 35mm air defense gun
• Ingwe anti-tank guided missile
• BGM-71 TOW anti-tank guided missile
• SA-7 Grail (9K32 Strela-2) surface-to-air missile
• SA-14 Gremlin (9K34 Strela-3) surface-to-air missile
• SA-16 (Igla-1E) surface-to-air missile
• Starstreak surface-to-air missile
• Rapier surface-to-air missile

Armored vehicles

• Leeu main battle tank (to be introduced late 2008/early 2009)
• Luiperd Mk 6 main battle tank (South African-customized variant of the Leopard 2A6)
• Olifant Mk 1A/1B main battle tank
• Badger infantry fighting vehicle
  • Command
  • Mortar
  • Missile
  • Section
  • Fire Support
• Rooikat armored fighting vehicle
  • Rooikat 76
  • Rooikat 105 tank destroyer
• Ratel infantry fighting vehicle
  • Ratel 20
  • Ratel 60
  • Ratel 81 mortar carrier
  • Ratel 90
  • Ratel 120 mortar carrier
  • Ratel Command
  • Ratel EAOS (Enhanced Artillery Observation System)
  • Ratel Maintenance
  • Ratel ZT3 tank destroyer
  • Ratel Logistic
• Mamba mine-protected armored personnel carrier
  • Mk2
  • Mk3
• RG-31 Nyala mine-protected armored personnel carrier
  • RG-31 Sabre cargo vehicle
  • RG-31 Mk5 Nyala
  • RG-31 Mk5E
• RG-32 Scout mine-protected armored personnel carrier
  • RG-32M Standard
  • RG-32M Full Armour
• RG-33 mine-protected armored personnel carrier
  • RG-33L
• Casspir mine-protected armored personnel carrier
  • APC
  • Artillery Fire Control
  • Ambulance
  • Blesbok freighter
  • Duiker tanker
  • FISTV
  • Gemsbok recovery vehicle
  • Mechem mine-clearing vehicle
  • MEDDS mine-sensor vehicle
  • Plofadder mine-clearing vehicle
  • Riot control
• Buffel mine-protected armored personnel carrier
  • Buffel Mk 1
  • Log Buffel logistics/cargo vehicle
  • Moffel open cargo-bed vehicle
  • Buffel Mk IIA/B
  • Rhino
• Reva mine-protected armored personnel carrier
• Okapi mine-protected vehicle
  • Command and Control
  • Fire Control
  • Biological Detection
  • Electronic Warfare
• TPz Fuchs armored personnel carrier
• Wiesel armored weapons carrier
  • Wiesel 1 Aufklärung reconnaissance vehicle
  • Wiesel 1 ATM TOW anti-tank guided missile carrier
  • Wiesel 1 ATM TOW Resupply cargo carrier
  • Wiesel 2 BF/UF air defense unit command post
  • Wiesel 2 AFF air defense radar carrier
  • Wiesel 2 Ozelot air defense vehicle
• Flakpanzer Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft gun
• SK-105 Kürassier light tank
• FV101 Scorpion light tank
• FV103 Spartan armored personnel carrier
• FV107 Scimitar armored reconnaissance vehicle
• Cadillac Gage Commando amphibious light armored personnel carrier

Non-combat vehicles

• SAMIL logistical transport truck
  • SAMIL 20
  • SAMIL 50
  • SAMIL 100
• MAN heavy duty truck
• Various engineer vehicles (combat bridgelayers, armored recovery vehicles, etc.)

Aircraft

• Atlas Oryx medium utility helicopter
• Denel AH-2A Rooivalk attack helicopter
• MBB/Kawasaki BK 117A medium utility/transport helicopter