Although the South African armed forces have attracted world-wide media attention in recent years and have become known as the most powerful and efficient in southern Africa, comparatively few details of their operations and organisation are known. South African War Machine briefly describes the history of South Africa's armed forces, outlining their roles in the two World Wars and in Korea and explaining how this background has contributed to the unique make-up of South Africa's defence force today.
The weapons, organisation and training of each of the South African armed services are fully described with sections on elite formations like 1 Reconnaissance Commando and 44 Parachute Brigade and the special techniques they have developed. The campaigns in South West Africa (Namibia) against the SWAPO guerrillas are fully described as are the various operations in Angola from the initial South African involvement in 1975. Because of South Africa's political isolation its armed forces have a varied collection of equipment ranging from vintage Dakota transport aircraft to extremely advanced armoured vehicles and artillery weapons of South African design and manufacture.
The Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor) has now taken this a step further with intensive efforts to market its products around the world. Recent times have also seen South Africa conclude agreements with both the Angolan and Mozambique governments which may lead to far-reaching changes in the security climate of southern Africa. South African War Machine provides an unrivalled analysis of the country's defence force, with Helmoed-Romer Heitman's authoritative text being supplemented by carefully chosen illustrations, many of them never previously published.