Quote:
Originally Posted by cawest
all of the reports during the Boarder was have the Ratel 90 and Eland Mk7 doing very well and taking out T-34's to take out the new tanks a 105. the UK and others would have a problem getting new (newish) Centurion hulls to SA. maybe they would sell/trade new tanks in low numbers at the start of the war. as the war went on these sources would dry up and maybe dry up fast. ATGM production is something I have not looked into yet. but HE and canister rounds are easier in time and equipment to make. This leads me to think that the Rooikat would be but into production and coming off the line as fast as they could. they might even convert a heavy truck line into turning out the large gun wheeled tanks in larger numbers.
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The Eland had either a 60mm gun-mortar or a 90mm low-velocity cannon. It was a good vehicle, but wouldn't reliably penetrate a T-55, let alone anything newer; the 90mm has around 320mm penetration against RHA and the 60mm only 200mm of penetration at point-blank ranges. The Ratel had either a 20mm autocannon or one of the main armaments from the Eland.
The Eland did carry a pair of SS.11 missiles, with 600mm penetration against RHA, and some Ratel were modified to ZT-3 configuration with the Ingwe ATGM (1,000mm RHA penetration). However, as you said, gun rounds are easier to do than missiles. The Rooikat's 76mm is based on the OTO Melara naval gun (76mm L/62) and is said to be able to penetrate a T-62's glacis at 2 kilometers. The 105mm that was tested was equivalent to the Royal Ordnance L7, and the APDS rounds were considered equal to the British L52, which implies T-62 penetration at 2.5km. It wouldn't quite be up to handling the modified T-72s and T-80s that the USSR built after analyzing Israeli rounds, but it would do well against earlier tanks. One big advantage would be the ability to use any 105mm NATO rounds, so anything they could beg, borrow, barter, or steal would work.