Armscor (South Africa)
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| Industry | Arms procurement agency |
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| Founded | 1968 |
| Headquarters | Pretoria, South Africa |
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Area served
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Key people
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Chairman - Vice Admiral (ret) Johannes Mudimu |
| Website | www |
Armscor (or ARMSCOR), the Armaments Corporation of South Africa is the arms procurement agency of the South African Department of Defence. It was originally established in 1968 as an arms production company, primarily as a response to the international sanctions by the United Nations against South Africa that began in 1963 and were formalised in 1967.
Until the 1970s, South Africa's apartheid administration had placed a disproportionate emphasis on civilian law enforcement and the maintenance of internal security. However, a Cuban intervention in Angola, and the escalation of the South African Border War convinced the government that it faced a serious external threat. In 1978, the premiership was accepted by PW Botha, a former South African security chief, and defence expenditure spiraled upwards. Armscor, then a relatively new entity, was charged with modernising the arsenal of the South African Defence Force (SADF). This was a difficult task, as a United Nations arms embargo on South Africa, promulgated in 1964, became mandatory in 1977. Some of the SADF's preexisting hardware was trying to maintain, and any national defence establishment would encounter hurdles in keeping these systems operational without access to foreign technical support as well as new deliveries of parts and equipment.
Armscor pursued both covert arms deals and black market purchases in an effort to acquire restricted defence technologies as rapidly as possible. The experience of the embargo encouraged South African efforts in diversifying suppliers while assuming indigenous production of some paraphernalia. Availability of Western-style equipment and spares from Israel in particular helped compensate for the military effects of the UN embargo. Armscor officials used aggressive covert techniques to acquire technology, bartering through other public sector enterprises, front companies, foreign agents, and even civil organisations.
South Africa had already maintained a small arms producing capacity during World War II, and unlike most African states it possessed exceptionally competent scientists and engineers adept at substituting local manufacture for imports. Generally Armscor proceeded by studying specimens of foreign equipment, sometimes through one of its third parties, then applying these skills to their improvement. By the 1990s it could boast of being "a world leader" in the field of upgrading obsolete weapons. Thus, Armscor's Olifant Mk1As were rebuilt from elderly British Centurion tanks purchased from India and Jordan. Its Atlas Cheetah interceptors were based on Mirage III airframes and inspired by the IAI Kfir. A French armoured personnel carrier, the Berliet VXB, inspired the six-wheeled Ratel IFV; Armscor also developed the Eland Mk7, a larger and more sophisticated variant of the Panhard AML armoured car.
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Wikipedia