Introducing the SWATF

ment is at Voortrekkerhoogte, in the com Town, some time next year. animals, and also supply services for civilian plex of buildings originally occupied by 1 Veterinary services. Although the SADF livestock as part of the extensive civic action Military Hospital before it moved to its new is more mechanised than it has ever been, it programme which is in operation in SA and site nearby. still makes large-scale use of animals such as Namibia. This includes research into diet A new rehabilitation complex will become patrol horses and guard and tracker dogs. and feeding methods in an attempt to pre operational at 2 Military Hospital, Cape The SAMS veterinarians care for all SADF vent ailments. ■ Introducing the SWATF

SA’s equivalent of the Cubans in Angola — or something more? Eight years after the SWA Territory Force was born, it is still often

condemned as an alleged "surrogate force," but that is too simplistic a view

WATF, now around 21 000-strong and swiftly assuming more and more S responsibility for fighting the bord(^ war, is a child of three fathers: political expediency, solid military realities and some perspicacious contingency planning. In the first place it is the child of politics. For years Namibia dominated the headlines in the South African press and political world, often in a form negative, not to say hostile, to the government. In the second place it was obvious to mili tary planners that sending South African battalions to the border for three months at a time was not an efficient use of assets. In the third place, it was obvious that Namibia was inching inexorably towards in dependence. It was equally obvious that if Swapo was handed the reins of government, as happened to the MPLA in Angola and Frelimo in Mozambique, the insurgency would continue. All these considerations and probably several others contributed to the decision to form SWATF on August 1 1980. m From the military point of view, the stratW^ gem of fighting fire with fire has succeeded excellently, so that Swapo’s losses have been consistently high for a number of years as SWATF extends its operations to the point where at present about 70% of the “bayo nets,” an ancient military term for fighting troops, are now local men. Seven years on, SWATF might still be under ultimate South African command, but it has its own uniform, organisation and identity. It is developing its own mystique and its own mythology, intangible but essen tial ingredients of a successful military force. Thanks to SADF administrative back-up, SWATF is long on teeth and short on tail. It is commanded by the Windhoek-based Major General Willie Meyer, General Offi cer Commanding SWATF, and is divided into the following: The Reaction Force has two elements: ____ TF "mount!*": old techniques for a new war □ A part-time motorised conventional-war- fare brigade made up of three motorised Bushmen, a battalion of East Caprivians, a civilian light aircraft are flown by their own infantry battalions and an armoured car Kaokoland battalion and a Kavango battal ers. regiment. One battalion is made up of full ion. Command structure: time national servicemen, but the others are The Area Force: Namibia is divided into seven “sectors”, manned by Citizen Force soldiers of all This consists of 26 part-time units which the equivalent of SA’s command areas. races, called up on a selective basis, then are the equivalent of SA’s commando battal The SADF still controls the three sectors trained at 2 SA Infantry Battalion Group at ions. Manned by men of all races and vary in northern Namibia which cover the oper Walvis Bay, with advanced training being ing in size and structure according to region ational area — Sector 10 (Kaokoland and done at the SWA Military School at Oka- al requirements, they operate in their home Ovamboland), Sector 20 (Kavango, Bush- handja. areas. manland and West Caprivi) and Sector 70 □ Six full-time light infantry battalions, lo Other elements: (East Caprivi), although the chain of com cally recruited from specific ethno/cultural These include one engineers and one sig mand runs back to GOC SWATF in Wind groups, with a sprinkling of outsiders to nals unit, a parachute battalion and a hoek, and not Pretoria. provide needed expertise. Each battalion specialised unit, whose men hunt insurgents SWATF controls the other four: Sector 30 trains its own men and has a specific area on horseback or scrambler motorcycle. (HQ at Otjiwarongo), Sector 40 (Wind which it works, year in and year out. There is There is also an “air force” in the form of hoek), Sector 50 (Gobabis) and Sector 60 a battalion of Ovambos, two battalions of 112 Squadron, a commando squadron whose (Keetmanshoop). ■

181 years of development In 1806 a young gunsmith named JSF Botha set up shop in Cape Town and proceeded to manufacture smooth-bore "sannas" by assembling imported locks and barrels, then fitting them to locally carved stinkwood stocks

ust under 180 years after J S F Botha employing about 60 000 people, while an set up his gunshop in Cape Town, THE MINE BEATER other 1 200-odd firms supply it with items from their normal production runs. British troops who had overrun Casspir development (1972-1980) ArgentinianJ positions in the Falklands War Yet another ripple effect of its operations were intrigued to find their late enemies’ 1. Early 1972: Camel mine-protected vehicle is designed by SADF derives from the fact that it has had to Defence Research Unit. introduce and develop new technology which radios equipped with frequency-hopping de 2. Prototype Camel is manufactured by Sandock Austral factory vices superior to their own . . . and, like and sent to Caprivi for evaluation. in the normal run of things would not have Botha’s stinkwood gunstocks, made in SA. 3. Late 1972:6 modified Camels 8re produced, renamed Hyaena, been seen in SA at this stage of the country’s That is how far the arms industry has sent to Caprivi and prove eminently successful. development. The result: a spin-off benefit progressed in SA. Whether one approves of 4. 1973: Hyaena goes into mass production for SAP and Rhode ing the civilian sector, much as the space sian government. the reason behind it or not, it is a remarkable 5. Defence Research Unit starts experiments to build larger mine- race introduced new materials and method achievement by any standards. By a combi protected vehicle called Wolf by adapting Hyaena principles to a ology to the world at large. nation of imported technology and know Unimog chassis. Incredible as it might seem, Armscor has how, locally-acquired expertise, inspired cor- 6. SAP asks DRU for Wotf look-alike but based on Bedford instead made SA the world’s tenth largest arms of Unimog chassis. 0RU does so and produces Hippo. er-cutting and intensive research and 7. July 1974: First order for 150 Hippos goes into production at exporter, supplying 23 different countries, evelopment, the South African arms indus Messrs J Brockhouse (other built subsequently by other firms some of which would not be seen dead speak- *try has taken less than four decades to devel including Henred Freuhauf. op to such an extent that the country is now a 8. Late 1977: SADF orders Hippos (eventually acquiring 522). 9. Early 1978: DRU starts designing monocoque version of Hippo. net exporter of weapons and equipment. 10. Late 1978: First prototype of monocoque Hippo is produced. 11. Late 1978: Koosde Wet (UCDD! and Gus Modlin (TFM Pty Ltd) Massive organisation redesign monocoque Hippo. The Armscor of 1987 vintage is a massive 12. April 1979: Prototype CASSPIR completed for evaluation 13. March 1980: SAP places first order for 140 slightly redesigned organisation. Its 10 privately-owned subsid Casspirs, to be built by Henred Fruehauf (subsequent orders iaries, some with subsidiaries of their own, executed by TFM). employ 23 000 workers of all races, has as sets totalling about Rl,7 billion and an Source: "Taming the Landmine", by Peter Stiff annual turnover of nearly R2 billion. This compares with Tiger Oats’ employment fig ures of 23 000 and assets of over R l,6 billion. Tongaat’s total assets, for example, are also over R l,6 billion, but it employs over 37 000 people, and the OK Bazaars employs 23 595 people, but has assets of R352,6 million. But that is not the total extent of Arms- cor’s influence on the economy. It has about 800 major and 300 minor sub-contractors The Armscor Ratel, backbone of SA's mechanised infantry What's in the pipeline? Commandant P G Marais, chairman of Armscor, and his brains-trusters traditionally maintain a zipped lip about what they have in the development and production pipelines, but educated guesses paint an interesting picture

JArmscor maintains a heavy research and now in service have been thoroughly battle- mour” — blocks or plates which are at development programme that ab- ' tested but represent 1960s technology and tached to vehicles and ensures a pre-emptive sorbs many millions in any given have physical limitations as regards both explosion on being struck by the sort of financial year. According to one official armour and gun-carrying capacity. shaped-charge projectile fired by man-porta- “about 75% of our brainpower is used in The obvious answer: A considerably larger ble launchers like the RPG-7. This pre-emp developing new-generation weapons for the armoured car, most likely six- or eight tive explosion totally or partly destroys the future.” Armscor officials maintain they get wheeled, probably more heavily gunned and effect of the shaped charge. a disproportionate amount of mileage out of armoured and definitely powered by a diesel It is not known if Armscor is developing every rand by painstaking and exhaustive rather than the more flammable petrol en such armour, but it is deeply interested in basic preparation. gine. anti-armour-piercing technology and has “The Americans can afford to build a Other additions to the Ratel family: One been working for a long time on an alterna missile and then fire off about 200 for evalu variant which is urgently needed for the tive, ceramic armour. ation,” an official says. “We can’t afford conventional forces is a Ratel mounting an More emphasis on missiles. It is c l e ^ that way of working. So by the time we 81 mm mortar; today’s mortar location ap Armscor is looking more and more towar^ff actually launch a missile it has already paratus is so good that a mortar’s position missiles as a way of making up for its prob undergone hundreds of simulated computer can be pin-pointed before its first bomb hits lems in acquiring high-tech aircraft. Among firings in the laboratory.” its target. other things this could mean the develop Among the items Armscor is definitely or The riposte to this is a vehicle-mounted ment of an anti-radar missile of performance probably working on: “shoot-and-scoot” mortar. Another urgent similar to the American cruise missile type. The G-6 self-propelled 155 mm gun-howit- requirement is a Ratel mounting dual or This would be a good antidote for the zer, which has been on the back-burner since quadruple anti-aircraft guns, and/or another extensive radar and surface-to-air missile being unveiled several years ago. Judging by mounting small guided missiles, especially network that now defends southern Angola Finance Minister Barend du Plessis’ remarks now that countries like Angola are beginning and covers so much Namibian airspace that during his Budget speech, the G-6 is now in to develop credible aerial combat forces. a Mirage fighter operating from Ondangwa production. A new battle tank to replace the Olifant/ air base can be picked up and tracked from The Cheetah ground-attack fighter conver Centurion. It is known that as long ago as the moment it leaves the runway. sion programme is obviously to be pushed the early Eighties Armscor’s R & D boffins If the southern Angolan network can be hard, judging from the enormous extra slice were engaged in this direction, having con disrupted or put out of action it would be of military expenditure which is to be devot cluded — like their colleagues elsewhere in much easier for the SAAF to maintain aerial ed to air defence in the 1987/1988 Budget. the world — that the heavy battle tank was superiority without placing its precious and A new armoured car, better equipped to not yet obsolete in spite of premature obitu almost irreplaceable fighters at too much face the growing tank threat from certain aries intoned over it after heavy Israeli losses risk. neighbouring countries like Angola, which during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Short of cruise missiles, the only way of now deploys the late-model Soviet T-62 tank. Active armour: One of the latest innova levelling out the aerial superiority problem is The Eland-90 and Eland-20 armoured cars tions in military technology is “active ar to launch a pre-emptive aircraft attack on ones, since the harsh seas around the Cape the missile and radar positions. Military ob to build Puma-sized helicopters. coasts have taught Armscor some lessons servers noted a strong indication that Arms- At the XPT-l’s April 30 unveiling Marais about the Israeli-derived boats, which were cor is already working on a project of this strenuously denied it was a pre-election designed for the calmer waters of the Medi kind as long ago as the 1984 FIDA exposi stunt. They had already lost a week on the tion in Chile, when Armscor unveiled an project, he said, and the very tight schedule terranean. A locally-built submarine: This is another unprecedentedly small, light gas turbine en did not permit a further delay of 10 days or subject which is veiled in secrecy, but it gine. Only 32 cm in diameter, 1 m long and so. seems Armscor is working on a submersible 63 kg in weight, the turbine was described as This impression was reinforced by Du to complement and eventually supplant the cheap, simple, reliable and low-mainten- Plessis in his Budget speech in June, when he ance, with a maximum operating life of only made it clear that the programmes for devel Navy’s three Daphne-class vessels. This is a long-standing requirement — in 20 hours. oping the “combat support helicopter”, Observers agree that while the dimensions among other things, “have had to be initiat the Seventies SA ordered two French indicate it could be used for a Remotely ed.” Agosta-class submarines and was about to Piloted Vehicle (RPV) or drone, the short Armscor’s ability, revealed at the April 30 take delivery in 1978 when France finally engine life indicates a strictly one-way ticket, press conference, to manufacture such high- decided to observe the mandatory UN arms whereas RPVs are re-useable machines. tech helicopter parts as gear-boxes and rotor embargo and slammed the door on Pretoria’s There can be little doubt that all Armscor blades has astonished overseas observers. On fingers. needs is to develop a suitable guidance sys May 23 the respected Jane’s Defence Week The first hint of local production came in tem for a cruise missile to be a feasible ly stated: “It ... showed photographic evi 1982 when Con Botha, National Party MP proposition. dence of a greatly-developed industrial base for Umlazi, said in parliament that SA It is also clear that Armscor R & D is for helicopter component manufacture ... would soon have to consider building its own laying heavy emphasis on long-range anti even allowing for SA’s long-established tech submarines. aircraft missile defences as a fairly cheap nical expertise, European observers were as- In the same speech he mentioned that a way of countering the ever more advanced new supply ship would soon be built — and aircraft being deployed by Angola and, po sure enough, SAS Drakensberg was tentially, other neighbouring countries. launched in April last year. A small attack helicopter: The ground Subsequently the speculation was renew *, work for such a machine was laid with the when Captain Evert Groenewald, com man^^ 1986 unveiling of the two-man Alpha XH-1 ing officer of the submarine flotilla, pointed experimental attack helicopter, the main ar out that the life expectancy of a submarine mament of which was a 20 mm servo-con- was 20 to 25 years — and the Daphnes had trolled cannon in a chin mount. The local been bought from France in the early Seven press immediately went overboard, lauding it ties. This means they have now reached half- (in one instance) as “Airbok”. In fact the life, and it is possible that they will be up XH-1 was nothing of the kind. It was, one graded as an interim measure while expert observer concluded, a somewhat re construction of a local sub proceeds. Technically both projects appear entirely built Alouette III. Its raison d ’etre was actually to evaluate feasible. The Navy and Armscor have ac the on-board weapons system. This consisted quired a great deal of expertise from the mainly of the cannon — which was con periodical stem-to-stern refitting of the trolled by the gunner’s helmet sight and Daphnes. capable of being elevated 10 °, depressed 60 ’ In addition, Armscor probably has the and traversed 110" to either side. Reputedly necessary blueprints. In November last year the XH-1 was also used for evaluating rocket it became known the West German govern ment was investigating a foremost builder of pods. Strike craft ... Mark II in the However, the Alpha or a development has pipeline? submarines, Howaldtswerke-Deutsche never gone into production. It has served its Werft AG (HDW), for allegedly selling a set purpose as a flying testbed, according to tounded by the advanced autoclave for man of blueprints to SA for Dm46m (about Marais in a recent interview, and no require ufacturing composite rotor blades. Previous R52m). ment for such a helicopter has been formu assessments suggested that rotor blades were It is certain any home-grown submarin^f lated by the SAAF; it would appear that pro imported.” would be built at Armscor’s Sandock A ustra tem the greater need is for a larger attack- An anti-submarine helicopter: There can yard in Durban. The yard has the necessary and-transport helicopter. be little doubt that the combat helicopter capacity and expertise, having built all the At the same time Marais made it clear resulting from the XPT-1 project can be locally-produced strike craft as well as the fleet replenishment ship SAS Drakensberg, that if the SAAF were to come up with a turned into a replacement for the SAAF’s requirement the Alpha project would be res ageing Westland Wasp ASW helicopters by perhaps the largest ship ever constructed in urrected and developed further. fitting it with the necessary on-board sys SA. An attack-and-transport helicopter: This tems as well as providing a torpedo-launch Armscor spokesmen make no secret of the project, in the shape of the XPT-1, is very ing and rocket-firing capability. fact that the yard could build a moderate much in progress. The XPT-1 — raptures in This would probably necessitate some re sized submarine, and last year, when asked the popular press to the contrary — is not an building of the two remaining anti-subma about the possibility of such a project, Arms operational prototype but a slightly modified rine frigates’ hangar and landing facilities, cor spokesan Johan Adler would only make Puma transport helicopter on which the ex since a Puma-sized helicopter would be con the guarded but interesting comment that pertise gained from the Alpha project has siderably larger and heavier than a Wasp. “we’re not that far down the line yet.” Adler conceded the naval dockyard at been put to good use. More missile strike craft: There are now The XPT-1 mounts the same 20 mm hel- nine strike craft known to exist, and it ap Simonstown was also a possibility. However, he added, a Durban-based project would be a met-sighted gun as the XH-1 and four out pears likely more will be constructed now board pods firing the standard 68 mm air-to- that the Navy’s long-cherished dream to great boost to the very depressed shipbuild ground unguided rocket. build Corvettes has gone on the back burner. ing industry, which had suffered severely In an interview after the unveiling Marais Any new strike craft will probably look because of the recession and the world over made it clear that SA now has the capacity considerably different from the existing supply of tonnage. ■

Collection Number: AG1977

END CONSCRIPTION CAMPAIGN (ECC)

LEGAL NOTICES:

Copyright Notice: All materials on the Historical Papers website are protected by South African copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, or otherwise published in any format, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Disclaimer and Terms of Use: Provided that you maintain all copyright and other notices contained therein, you may download material (one machine readable copy and one print copy per page) for your personal and/or educational non-commercial use only.

People using these records relating to the archives of Historical Papers, The Library, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, are reminded that such records sometimes contain material which is uncorroborated, inaccurate, distorted or untrue. While these digital records are true facsimiles of paper documents and the information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to be accurate and reliable, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand has not independently verified their content. Consequently, the University is not responsible for any errors or omissions and excludes any and all liability for any errors in or omissions from the information on the website or any related information on third party websites accessible from this website.

This document is part of a collection held at the Historical Papers Research Archive at The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.