The SAAF Forum

Excellent photo's.

Trivia,

Hilda is the SADF name for the Tiger Cat which is the land based version of the British Sea Cat missile.

There is a launcher with missiles on display at the Jo'burg Museum.

There is also a launcher with missiles and director at AFB Swartkop

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A plan is simply a basis for change.

No, that's not "min dae". Those fingers are still too far apart which indicates that he still has another couple of months before "uitklaar". It was "min dae" when the fingers almost touch.

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Stay foolish; stay hungry

Thanks for the great walk-through Theuns, this is an awesome thread.

On Theuns’photo of the radar units at Ondangwa you will notice them being deployed on huge soil heaps. The Cactuses were also deployed on similar man made hills to gain a bit of height and hence beter radar coverage on the flat landscape of northern Namibia. On Google Earth you can still see the waterholes where the soil was probably excavated from. 250 were deployed north of the runway, where the excavations holes are.

Re "Hildas" the Tiger cat missiles.

These Tigercats were acquired by SA from Jordan of all places. I remember having a copy of the UK Guardian newspaper which gave all the details when the story was blown. One chap I worked with later in civvy street was horrified to see it all in the press (with his name) in full.
At the time it was reported they were destined for Rhodesia with Jordanian Hawker Hunters. The expose in the UK press put paid to the Hunter deal which fell through, and the Tigercats (Hilda's) ended up in SA.

Some of the SADF/SANDF Olifant tanks are built on Centurion hulls obtained from Jordan as scrap, Jordan is also a user of the Ratel IFV so draw your own conculsions

What do we use now for anti-aircraft systems?

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Stay foolish; stay hungry

Towed GDF twin 35mm cannon

Truck mounted twin 23mm cannon (Zumlac)

Starstreak short range SAM (tripod launchers, not manpads)

Truck mounted Umkhonto SAM is still under development.

AFAIK the Ystervark truck mounted 20mm guns are all retired.

I recall this 23x2, as being the "bosvark" .., is it the same system

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Brent Best

The GBADS Starstreak Tripod is man-portable - there is a large cammo bag for it! But not as big as the bag for the SRLWS radar tripod or radar unit. Sorry, I can't find Denel ISS = DISS (integrators of the GBADS system), on the Internet, but there's a brochure for GBADS at http://www.deneldynamics.co.za/pdfdownl ... _sable.pdf .

The GBADS Starstreaks can be used shoulder-launched or on tripods - the seeker/controller thingy (can't remember the technical name for it) dismounts from the tripod, and you attach a single missile tube to it, while the tripod has up to 3 tubes. Generally while in convoy or while deploying on foot, the troops are ready to go into quick reaction self-defence mode, where they would use it in a shoulder-launch.

I see that the Zumlac system is mounted on the back of a Samil 100 mine protected truck.

One's immedaite reacion on seeing that is that it constitus an excellent prime target for aircraft in search of ground targets. The second thought is that because it is mounted on the back of a truck it makes it very clumsy for surface target engagements while on the move. It is almost the equivalent of a bomber with a on board gun mounted in the back.

Is'nt it much better to build it into a turret, together with a radar sight, and mount the lot onto a Rooikat chassis? (Just a thought) = much more mobile and versatile. It should be excellent for air and surface engagements.

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Stay foolish; stay hungry

I would also think it would be better to mount the starstreak onto a whelled chassies in order to get it in action quicker.

Afternoon all,

I was also a 250 boy, 120 Sqn(Cactus) to be exact, from 1987 to 1988 until I was posted to Southern Air Command.

The "plaas"..... brings back memories, as Skippy Scheepers said "you only cry twice at the farm, when you arrive and when you have to leave"

I was part of the Rundu deployment in '87 as well as the Ondangs one in '88.

Such a long time ago!

Welcome Cactus.