Talk:South African Army

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the South African Army article.
Article policies
MILHIST This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see lists of open tasks and regional and topical task forces. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.
Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.

Who says this: "reinforced by the Afrikaners' historical distrust of large standing armies"? Evidence please! Paul Beardsell 09:28, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Information: The statement was made in the Library of Congress Country Studies. Elf-friend 13:13, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)

And I see that source quoted here also: http://www.photius.com/countries/south_africa/national_security/south_africa_national_security_early_development_of~2500.html But note the disclaimer at the bottom of the page: Accuracy is not claimed! And I know of at least one other flaw in that article. It was quite possible to be called up for National Service before one's 18th birthday. So we are using questionable material here. Paul Beardsell 21:37, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Well, the impression I get from that site is that they're just issuing a disclaimer for their use of second-hand info, and directing any queries to the authors of the LoC Country Studies and CIA:WF material. It doesn't however say anywhere that the material from both those sources is unreliable.... Impi 22:33, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Well, Paul, if you see any factual errors in an article, please fix them. That's one of the advantages of Wikipedia - anybody can edit. And I don't see why one factual error would neccessarily cast doubt on the whole source. Elf-friend 11:26, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I find it quite hard to believe that over 1500 ratel varients are operated by South Africa, is this figure true? 23 Jan 2005 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.186.83.53 (talk • contribs)

You're right, there's actually around 1,200 of them in service, as per the following article (in Afrikaans) Denel, EADS se Opvolger vir Ratel Oor 3 Jaar Gereed. Impi 15:41, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Graphic of the Army Structure

I'm currently working on a project to create graphics of the structure of some Armies. i.e. France. I want to make also a graphic of the South African Army, but the information at this point is not sufficient, as on the official homepage of the Army under the link “Structure” nothing can be found! Does anyone have information how the South African Army is structured? Thanks noclador Noclador 02:52, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Badger IFV

Hoefyster was the name of the procurement project for the new vehicles, not the vehicle name. Instead, the SA Army will give the new vehicle the name of Badger[1], following on from the Ratel (which means Honey Badger in Afrikaans). All SANDF equipment procurement projects receive a name (for eg, the Valour-class frigates were procured under Project Sitron), but it's never retained. Impi 15:22, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sandbox

According to a PDF I have of the Defence Review 1998, 8 SAI were motorised, the only mechanised units were 61 Mech and 1 SAI.

Full listing SA Infantry Formation (Full Time force)- 61 Mech Inf Bn Group (gone?) 1 SAI Bn - Tempe 4 SAI Bn - Middelburg 6 SAI Bn - Grahamstown 5 SAI Bn - Ladysmith 7 SAI Bn - Phalaborwa 8 SAI Bn - Upington 9 SAI Bn - Wynberg/Youngsfield 10 SAI Bn - Mmabatho 14 SAI Bn - Umtata 115 SAI Bn - Wonderboom/Wallmanstad 116 SAI Bn - Messina 118 SAI Bn - Ellisras 121 SAI Bn- Mtubatuba

I'm not sure if this is 100% accurate, it is based on that Defence Review, some issues of SA Soldier, and other stuff on the net. 3 SAI are not listed because they are now the army's basic training unit for all non-leader group personnel (leader group does basics at the SA Army Gymnasium). I've not listed the Parabats either. 61 Mech apparently was disbanded last year, 12 SAI (specialist infantry-motorcycles, horses, dog handlers, trackers) went a while back too. 1 SAI are mech infantry, the rest light or motorised. http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=64954&page=27—Preceding unsigned comment added by Buckshot06 (talk • contribs)

8 SAI was converted to a mech unit sometime after the Def Review, but sometime during 2006/2007 it was merged with 61 Mech and lost its old identity. Thus the SA Army currently has two Mech units, 1 SAI and 61 Mech. Impi 22:20, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Soltam M-65

Hello everybody! I just complete the above article and was wondering if South African Army is still fielding the Soltam M-65 120mm mortar as of today or has it been relegated to storage or other duties? Thanks and appreciate if anybody with that information can help me with the above-mentioned article. --Dave1185 (talk) 16:33, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

  • Also, I would appreciate if anyone could also give me a hand for the following articles,
  1. Soltam M-66 160mm mortar,
  2. Soltam M-68 155mm 33calibre howitzer,
  3. Soltam M-71 155mm 39calibre howitzer,

with regards to their usage or operational status by the South African Army. Thanks again in advance. --Dave1185 (talk) 02:01, 2 May 2008 (UTC)