Captain Andre Odendaal served in the South African Army during the Border War, beginning his national service with 31 Battalion before being selected for the elite 5 Reconnaissance Regiment (5 Recce), with notable experiences also including interactions with the...
Star pistols - most notably the Model B, Super B, and Model BM - served as standard sidearms for the South African military and police for decades. Manufactured by the now-defunct Spanish company Star Bonifacio Echeverria, these 1911-style, all-steel firearms are...
The P-35M (NATO reporting name "Bar Lock") was a highly capable Soviet 2D mobile early-warning and ground control intercept (GCI) radar deployed to Angola in the 1980s. Its presence fundamentally altered the airspace dynamics of the Angolan Civil War, challenging the...
Served with Breytenbach in Biafra. Was one of the founder members of 1 Recce
The Olifant Mk1A is a South African main battle tank (MBT) that represents an extensive upgrade of the British Centurion tank. The development of the Olifant series began in the 1970s as South Africa sought to modernize its aging Centurion fleet to meet the demands of...
The Ural-375 is a highly capable Soviet-designed 4.5-ton 6×6 multi-purpose military truck that saw widespread tactical deployment in Angola. It served as a primary heavy logistics and weapons platform during the Angolan Civil War and subsequent regional conflicts....
The following account narrates the downing of a Cuban helicopter with 15 people on board, commanded by pilot Emilio González Rivas, on May 17, 1978, Negage, in a confrontation with the FNLA. Commanding a pair of Mi-8 helicopters, we arrived in the afternoon at the...
Jean-Michel Caffin is a former military officer and current business executive who served in the Rhodesian Security Forces and South African Special Forces
Angola's military, specifically the Air Force (FAP), operated Fokker F-27s, primarily the F-27 Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) variant for coastal surveillance and reconnaissance during the late Cold War era, with one F-27M-200 MPA entering service around 1980, used to...
The Soviet-made ZiS-3 76.2mm divisional gun was used extensively in Angola during the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War, primarily by the MPLA/FAPLA (Soviet/Cuban allies) against UNITA and South African forces, where its reliability and effectiveness made...
The BRDM-2 (Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina-2) is a Soviet-era amphibious armored scout car that saw significant use in the Angolan Civil War (1975-2002) by Soviet-aligned forces, including the Angolan Army (FAPLA) and Cuban troops, primarily for...
On 30 September 1985 the Angolan and Cuban forces operating in Angola suffered a spate of helicopter losses that effected their ability to support their troops. For a long time they were not able to understand what had happened to their valuable helicopters and...
The GAZ-66 truck was extensively used in Angola and Mozambique, primarily by the Soviet-backed liberation movements and later the national armies (MPLA in Angola, FRELIMO in Mozambique) during their respective wars of independence and subsequent civil wars. The...