Rooikat

Rooikat
Rooikat at Air Force Base Waterkloof
Type	Armoured fighting vehicle
Place of origin	South Africa
Service history
In service	1989 – present
Wars	Operation Boleas
Production history
Designed	1982
Produced	1987 – present
Specifications
Weight	28 t
Length	7.1 m (23 ft 4 in) 8.2 m (26 ft 11 in) with gun forward
Width	2.9 m (9 ft 6 in)
Height	2.6 m (8 ft 6 in) turret roof
Crew	4
Main armament	1 x Denel GT4 76mm 62-calibre rifled gun, firing an APFSDS round Muzzle velocity: > 1600m/s.
Secondary armament	2 x MG4 7.62 mm machine guns; 8 x 81 mm smoke grenade dischargers
Engine	10-cylinder water-cooled diesel 414 KW (563 hp)
Power/weight	14.89 kW/t
Suspension	8×8 wheeled, Fully independent active trailing arm
Operational range	1000 km (621 mi)
Speed	Road: 120 km/h (75 mph) Off-road: 50 km/h (31 mph)

The Rooikat (Afrikaans for "Caracal"; literally "Red cat") is a South African armoured reconnaissance vehicle equipped with a stabilised 76mm high velocity gun for organic anti-tank and fire support purposes. It is capable of giving the same performance and using the same ammunition as the Oto Melara 76 naval gun, albeit with new percussion primers.

From the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s, the standard reconnaissance vehicle of the South African Defence Force was the Eland-90, a four-wheeled armoured car modelled closely after the Panhard AML-90. However, the Eland was designed for border patrols and internal security, and proved ill-suited to countering tank warfare. The Eland's limitations were first observed during combat in Operation Savannah, a 1975 South African incursion into Angola. This led to its supplementation in the late 1970s with the much heavier, six-wheeled Ratel-90 infantry fighting vehicle. The Ratel proved to be a successful interim measure because it could both carry troops and provide fire support.

In 1984, South Africa launched Operation Askari, which saw its mechanised and motorised infantry contingents threatened by large Angolan tank formations for the first time. Both the Ratel-90 and Eland-90 were used as improvised tank destroyers but performed inadequately against T-54/55 tanks of the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA). The armoured cars were decisively outranged by the Angolan tanks, and their inability to fire on the move resulted in a poor rate of engagement. As a direct result of Askari, the Eland was removed from combat service and a squadron of Olifant tanks kept on permanent standby to assist with neutralising enemy armour during future South African operations.