Quote:
Originally Posted by James Langham2
Possible sources for Centurions:
Switzerland (who had bought them from SA in the first place!)
Singapore (from INdia and Israel)
Worth noting that Somalia had 30 Centurions in the late 1980s from Kuwait
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I'm not sure they'd need more. South Africa had 224 Olifant Mk.1 (total for both A and B) in service in 1996 in our timeline, along with 28 bridge-laying Olifants. FAPLA had T-54/55 (150) and T-62 (175), while PLAN had T-34 and T-55 that were rolled into the NDF. AFAIK, T-72 didn't reach the area until 1999 (again, in our timeline), and I need convincing that the Soviet Union would send anything other than T-54/55 and T-62 to either FAPLA or PLAN, since that's not a priority theater for them. I also realize I just come up with an argument against the Rooikat 105 I suggested earlier, since the Rooikat 76 is capable of defeating all FAPLA or PLAN armor at 2 kilometers; the 105 is unnecessary unless heavier armor is deployed.
If they do buy more, Israeli
Sho't Kal might be another source. They were one of the inspirations for the Olifant, and would fit in well. Israel had 390 of them in the mid-80s but started converting them to HAPCs as the Merkavas entered service, so I'm not sure how many would still be available (although the HAPCs could be converted back by Denel).