Light Tanks

yes I was refering to the Ratel, and I am sure what you say is correct, as in, the Ratel is good for recon in large open areas....an that is what a light tank is meant for.
 
I've seen a couple ratels in action and I'll tell you, if they come up against an inexperienced tank crew, the tank is toast (If the ratels have guns mounted). They move incredibly fast and when working as a team, they are hard to beat. Add to that the fact that the carrier compartment has a firing hole for each troop inside, it is almost like a 7.62 porcupine! (We used FAL's for the most part during the 80's).
 
Look slike th ebigest gun is a 90mm - which is perfect for African conditions and even in situations such as Iraq - where the main opposition tanks are older russian tanks. The 90mm has some good penetration and will knock out or damage most tanks out there pretty badly. Add to this the Ratel's speed and manueverability, and it makes for quite a weapon against older targeting systems - which it was designed to do. South Africa never faced a modern army and probably never will - such is the nature of warfare in Africa. The most advance weapons we have are the rooivalk - which is up there as far as attack helos go. Here is some quoted text:
"The Ratel 20 IFV is a wheeled, infantry fighting vehicle designed in the early 1970s to circumvent the arms embargo of South Africa. The vehicle is equipped with a turret-mounted 20mm autocannon, a coaxial MG-4, another MG-4 (C), and yet another MG-4 pintle-mounted on the rear roof (manned by the infantry squad). Main entrance to the passenger compartment is via a large door on either side of the vehicle. There is also a driver’s hatch on the front deck, hatches for the commander and gunner on top of the turret, and eight hatches on the rear deck. There are four firing ports on each side that will accept any assault rifle or submachinegun. The Ratel 20 is used by South Africa and has been sold to undisclosed countries.

The Ratel 12.7 Command is a command version of the Ratel armored personnel carrier. The Ratel 12.7 has a two-man turret with an M-2HB, and a MAG in a mount on the rear roof. The command Ratel has three radios, a tape recorder with time injection, a combined receiver and cassette recorder, internal loudspeakers, a PA system, a pneumatic radio mast, and map boards.

The Ratel 60 is a wheeled infantry support vehicle designed in the early 1970s to circumvent the arms embargo of South Africa during apartheid. The vehicle is equipped with a turret-mounted 60mm Gun/Mortar, a coaxial MG-4, another MG-4 (C), and yet another pintle-mounted on the rear deck and manned by the infantry squad the Ratel 60 normally carries. Main entrance to the passenger compartment is via a large door on either side of the vehicle. There is also a driver’s hatch on the front deck, hatches for the commander and gunner on the turret deck, and eight hatches over the passenger compartment (four to a side of the deck). There are four firing ports on each side that will accept any assault rifle or submachinegun. The Ratel 60 is used by South Africa and has been sold to several undisclosed countries.

The Ratel 90 is a wheeled fire support vehicle designed in the mid-1970s to circumvent the arms embargo of South Africa during apartheid. The vehicle is equipped with a turret-mounted 90mm gun, a coaxial MG-4 (the South African-made version of the MAG), another MG-4 (C), and yet another MG-4 pintle-mounted on the rear deck. Main entrance to the passenger compartment (not normally used) is via a large door on either side of the vehicle. There is also a driver’s hatch on the front hull deck, hatches for the commander and gunner on top of the turret, and eight hatches on the rear deck for passengers. There are four firing ports on each side that will accept any assault rifle or submachinegun. The Ratel 90 is used by South Africa and has been sold to several undisclosed countries. "

from:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/rsa/ratel.htm
 
bushpig1998 said:
During the Bush war in Angola and domestic disturbances in South Africa, the SA Police used Ratels, Buffels and Casspirs very effeciently. I know that the Ratel was one of the most feared vehicles during Angola - mostly because the Cubans couldn't nail it - it just moved too fast. It was quiet, could go almost anywhere and had triple mine resistance. The best part of it was that you could mount many different types of weapons on it. It was also resistant to most small arms fire. In this case, I would agree with you, something like a downsized Stryker would go good. The Bradley, I'm sorry to say, is just to slow and lightly armored.
Hey, mind posting some pics of the Ratel and Buffel, or has that already been done?
 
I don't konw who it was that said that putting a Cadillac Gage Turret and a 90mm Cockerill gun on it was impossible but heres a pic out of the book Modern American Armor by Zaloga and Loop. Almost the same turret as the Commando series.
126-2642_IMG.jpg
 
godofthunder9010 said:
bushpig1998 said:
During the Bush war in Angola and domestic disturbances in South Africa, the SA Police used Ratels, Buffels and Casspirs very effeciently. I know that the Ratel was one of the most feared vehicles during Angola - mostly because the Cubans couldn't nail it - it just moved too fast. It was quiet, could go almost anywhere and had triple mine resistance. The best part of it was that you could mount many different types of weapons on it. It was also resistant to most small arms fire. In this case, I would agree with you, something like a downsized Stryker would go good. The Bradley, I'm sorry to say, is just to slow and lightly armored.
Hey, mind posting some pics of the Ratel and Buffel, or has that already been done?

I'll find a few and post them...
 
Since we are on the subject of light tanks...how about this one?

here is the blurb from the site:
The Rooikat 105 Armoured Fighting Vehicle is an 8x8 wheeled armoured vehicle with a crew of 4 and a combat mass of 28 tons.

The Rooikat is fitted with a low recoil force 105mm gun which fires standard NATO 105mm ammunition with exceptional accuracy at all types of targets either from a static position or on the move.

The Rooikat vehicle platform is highly adaptable to carry other turret and weapon systems.

Rooikat has been designed for High Mobility Operations where autonomous mobility, devastating firepower and a high level of combat survivability are of paramount importance.
rooikat_02.jpg
 
Who cares if it's on wheels? Is it armored? Does it have a gun (105mm and up I guess)? Transportable? Then you got yourself a light tank.
 
SHERMAN said:
well, you all realize that this arnt tanks...they are all wheeled.
Well, it seems that wheels offers some options that tracks don't. Speed and the option for greater stealth. Quicker and easier repair.

The wheels instead of tracks opens some vunerabilities to small arms fire that tracks wouldn't have.
 
The Rooikat can travel at 120 km per hour. It is transportable at 28 tonnes, it has a low recoil 105 mm gun and is armored. It can fjord a 2meter hole and has central inflation on all tyres as well as run flat options. I've seen these puppies on manueveres and I can tell you, it is impressive. The speed and armor aspect of it alone, makes it ideal for sandy situations - such as africa or middle east. Tracks are great when dealing with mud and slow moving advances, but when you need a lot of HE fast, wheeled is the way to go.
 
Sounds like we may have a winner.

bushpig1998 said:
The Rooikat can travel at 120 km per hour. It is transportable at 28 tonnes, it has a low recoil 105 mm gun and is armored. It can fjord a 2meter hole and has central inflation on all tyres as well as run flat options. I've seen these puppies on manueveres and I can tell you, it is impressive. The speed and armor aspect of it alone, makes it ideal for sandy situations - such as africa or middle east. Tracks are great when dealing with mud and slow moving advances, but when you need a lot of HE fast, wheeled is the way to go.
 
This was designed back in the early 80's and the design was shelved till recently. It is only now coming about and the SA army will deploy them shortly. Lets see how long it takes the army to ruin these fine vehicles as well... hehehehhe
 
bushpig1998 said:
The Rooikat can travel at 120 km per hour. It is transportable at 28 tonnes, it has a low recoil 105 mm gun and is armored. It can fjord a 2meter hole and has central inflation on all tyres as well as run flat options. I've seen these puppies on manueveres and I can tell you, it is impressive. The speed and armor aspect of it alone, makes it ideal for sandy situations - such as africa or middle east. Tracks are great when dealing with mud and slow moving advances, but when you need a lot of HE fast, wheeled is the way to go.
Apparntly the Stryker can have some troubles with extremely rough terrain. How does the Rooikat do in that category?

I suppose that in your worst case terrain situation, the vehicle of choice for the roughest of terrain is probably a MBT or something else tracked.
 
Many Countries have replaced their light tanks with wheeled Reconnaissance Vehicles.
France Builds many of them:

The erc 90
Argentina, Iraq,Ivory Coast, Gabon, Niger, Mexico ,Chad
erc90-001.jpg


Vextra 105
V5.jpg

it is used by france and the uae

Amx10r
rc04_005.jpg

It is used by
France morroco and Qatar

Also Brazil built the ee-9 Cascavell
ejc_cascavel_01.jpg

It is used by Brazil,Bolivia,Columbia,Chile, cyprus, Libya, Qartar, Iraq, Iran, Peru, Paraguay Ecuador Zimbabwe, Nigeria and ghana

The Italian centauro
lavmgs2-3.jpg

Used by italy and spain

The south African Rooikat thats been mentioned
lavmgs2-7.jpg


Also many Swiss piranah iis and iiis have been modified with 105mm turrets
cmi5.jpg

It is used by a few countries

Also Canada Has the 76mm cougar
worthington_nice.jpg
 
godofthunder9010 said:
bushpig1998 said:
The Rooikat can travel at 120 km per hour. It is transportable at 28 tonnes, it has a low recoil 105 mm gun and is armored. It can fjord a 2meter hole and has central inflation on all tyres as well as run flat options. I've seen these puppies on manueveres and I can tell you, it is impressive. The speed and armor aspect of it alone, makes it ideal for sandy situations - such as africa or middle east. Tracks are great when dealing with mud and slow moving advances, but when you need a lot of HE fast, wheeled is the way to go.
Apparntly the Stryker can have some troubles with extremely rough terrain. How does the Rooikat do in that category?

I suppose that in your worst case terrain situation, the vehicle of choice for the roughest of terrain is probably a MBT or something else tracked.
The Rooikat was built using many of the technology used on the Ratel And Caspirr (both proven very well in combat against Cuba and Angola). From what I've seen and read, the rooikat has exceptional off road capability. It can fjord up to 2 meter wide dongas and has a fairly low COG. Personally, if I know i'm going to fight agains older soviet tanks, I'd equip my entire armored division with these. It doesn't have very heavy armor, but it is very accurate and fast! That makes up for it, especially if you are fighting against poorly trained troops with non-computerized firing systems - which happens to be almost all armies in Africa.
 
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