6 Pics: S.Africa: Rooikat: The most amazing (underrated) weapon the Blacks inherited from Apartheid!

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I spotted this photo in Paratus, the S.African Army’s magazine. It made me cringe. Here is one of the most beautiful and fabulous weapons ever developed in South Africa. The Whites under Apartheid produced many beautiful, incredible weapons, like the G5 and astounding G6; the Cheetah, the Casspir and others. Some of these like the Casspir were workhorses for our side for many years. But others came near the end of white rule and were a whole new generation of weapons designed as a result of much combat experience.

Of the later weapons that came, that has NEVER seen combat, is this one below, the Rooikat (Red Cat), which is in the current SANDF, the military run by our incompetent blacks.

It sickens me to the pit of my stomach that these black scum have inherited weapons such as these (and many more). Here’s a side view of the Rooikat.

The Rooikat is classed as an Armoured Car, but that is a very deceptive view of this vehicle. What happened was that in Angola, when South Africa was fighting the Russians and Cubans and MPLA, was that the Ratel, which is an APC (Armoured Personnel Carrier) ran into tanks. The Ratel seen here below was another one of the really old, reliable workhorses of the South African Army. The Ratel did far more than it was ever intended for.

The original Ratels had 20mm guns like this one below.

But then when the fighting got heavy, the whites stuck a 76mm gun on the Ratel, like this one below.

These Ratels were built in the mid-1970s. But by 1987 they were caught up in very heavy fighting in Angola and they ended up fighting Russian tanks in the African bush in probably the only true tank battles ever fought in Africa South of the equator. These vehicles had thin armour and were NEVER designed to fight tanks! But in reality the whites fought tanks with these Ratels and they smashed them! Can you believe that these Ratels, with white soldiers in them were smacking the hell out of Cuban tanks in the African bush? They were! The Ratels actually proved to be much more useful than the real tanks of the South African army (converted British Centurion tanks).

As a result of this combat experience they built the Rooikat. The Ratel was a 6 wheeler, but the Rooikat has 8 wheels. In WW2, the Germans developed a real liking for 8 wheeled armoured cars like this fabulous Puma below.

In southern Africa, because it is dry, we don’t need tracked vehicles like the Germans and Russians and others in Europe do.

The Ratel is an armoured car, but it is an armoured car with a really high speed. It has thicker armour than the Ratel and it has a 76mm gun which can take on tanks. This armoured car is no ordinary armoured car. This armoured car was designed AS A TANK KILLER! Sadly, its never seen combat anywhere. Nowadays they produce Rooikat armoured cars with 105mm guns capable of fighting modern tanks.

The Rooikat might not be fantastic against American or other first world weapons like the Leopard tanks. But in African conditions I’m convinced the Rooikat would be a super-weapon in the hands of well trained white troops. This thing is deadly, and it would run rings around tanks while having the ability to engage in combat directly with them.

If the little old Ratels could beat tanks … imagine what the Rooikat could do!

Rhodesia also produced a little tank killer of their own suitable for African fighting, but that’s another story. It was however nothing like this Rooikat super-weapon.

Here’s a short writeup from wikipedia about the Rooikat:

Designed by Reemit (now BAe Land Systems) the Rooikat is a vehicle suitable for fast raids. Taking into account 
the lessons learned during the Angolan Civil War1, the vehicle is capable of being assigned to reconnaissance 
missions, diurnal penetrations as well as night operations thanks to its thermal imagery. Its 8x8 chassis 
allows for a balanced weight distribution on sandy soil while, like many other South African vehicles, such as 
RG-31 Nyala or Casspir, its structure is resistant to blast mines (such as the TM-46 ). The Rooikat has not yet 
experienced the ordeal of fire, however Reumech OMC continues to offer its export version, armed with a GT7 of 
105mm and enjoying enhanced protection able to withstand, in its frontal section, 20mm impacts.

jlamprecht