The Ratel, the first wheeled armoured infantry fighting vehicle, has an impressive career.
It is one of many legendary South African weapon systems designed according to real
combat experiences, not only conceptual studies.
What was behind the creation of the Ratel?
What were the advantages and disadvantages of this vehicle?
Today, we are investigating the Ratel, the fearless predator of the Savannahs.
The Ratel may look like an improvised armoured bus, unlike other modern wheeled armoured
infantry fighting vehicles, but the appearances may be deceptive.
It was carefully designed for the job.
The ratel, also known as the honey badger, is a natural predator thanks to its thick
skin, strength and ferocious defensive abilities.
It can indefatigably travel 10 to 27 kilometres daily to find its prey.
This small animal may even repel much larger predators such as lions and hyenas.
What better name than "ratel" for this robust and reliable vehicle that can travel long
distances to hunt its enemies and successfully fights its up-gunned and up-armoured Soviet-made
counterparts?
Before continuing, we would like to thank Dr Dewald Venter, who allowed us to use the
information from his book, "South African Armoured Fighting Vehicles: A History of Innovation
and Excellence, 1960-2020", and his article on the "Tank Encyclopedia" website.
In the 1960s, South Africa was dealing with a strict arms embargo due to apartheid policy,
even though it was fighting against the communist liberation movements in Southwest Africa and
Angola.
At that time, the South African Defence Force, SADF for short, had the 6x6 Alvis Saracen,
which was just a battle taxi.
But the SADF had already embraced mobile warfare to fight against both guerilla and regular
army forces.
It urgently needed an armoured infantry fighting vehicle, which would be highly manoeuvrable,
reliable and easily maintainable.
So, the South African decided to acquire a wheeled system, which also had a low unit
and life cycle cost, besides being more reliable and maintainable than a tracked one.
The design work on the new 6x6 wheeled system began in 1968.
In 1972, the local Springfield-Büssing company offered its vehicle called Buffel.
It was built on a modified MAN truck chassis.
While its trials continued, the SADF also tested the UR-416, VXB-170, Panhard M3, and
EE-11 Urutu.
Even though none of these vehicles could meet the SADF's criteria, the South African engineers
had impressed with the driver compartment arrangement of the VXB-170.
So, this design was applied to the Buffel, and the new variant was now called the Ratel.
In 1974, Sandock-Austral undertook the production and completed the first prototype.
The first four pre-production Ratels were also delivered for trials within two years.
The early production model Ratel Mk 1 became operational in 1976.
Based on the user's feedback from the operational use of these vehicles, the South African engineers
decided to implement some improvements.
The new production variant of Ratel, Mk 2, introduced in 1976, had enhanced bush-breaking
capability and a screen cover to prevent leaves from being sucked into the engine.
Also, the large covers replaced the previous mesh wires on the headlights.
The mechanical reliability of the Ratel Mk 2 was also improved.
Most of the modifications were subsequently retrofitted to earlier Mk 1s when they returned
for overhaul.
The Ratel Mk 3 variant, introduced in 1985, had an improved cooling system, additional
fuel filters, a digital acceleration meter and better bush-breaking capability.
The all-welded steel hull is resistant over the frontal arc against 12.7 mm and 7.62 mm
ammunition over the sides.
Even though it is not V-shaped, the hull provides a high level of protection against landmines.
There is a circular mount for an anti-aircraft machine gun at the right rear.
The driver sits at the front and has 270-degree forward visibility through three bulletproof
windows to the front and sides.
During the action, armoured shutters activated by the driver cover the windows.
Then the driver continues his job via three day periscopes.
Two doors opened pneumatically by the driver are on the sides between the first and second
axles, while the third one is at the rear.
The power pack at the rear left can be removed from the vehicle by two men with a crane in
less than 30 minutes.
There are four firing ports with bulletproof vision blocks on both sides, which allows
the infantry to engage the enemy under armour protection.
They are also used in ventilation to help improve the comfort of the crew and infantry
compartment working under hot weather conditions.
The Ratel has an operational range of 1000 kilometres for road and 600 kilometres off-road.
As designed for long-range operations, the standard equipment of the vehicle includes
a complete set of tools, spades, picks, shovels and axes, a towbar and towing cables, a first
aid kit, two petrol stoves, fire extinguishers, emergency spares, two 50-litre drinking water
tanks, two external stowage boxes, radios, an intercom, and a remote handset with 1,000
metres of cable.
The infantry fighting vehicle variant, the Ratel 20, carries eight infantry but can accommodate
an additional three soldiers when required.
One infantry also acts as the rear anti-aircraft gunner.
The section leader is also the vehicle commander and sits in the two-person turret.
The gunner is also positioned inside the turret.
The 20mm GI-2 autocannon, the licence production variant of the French F2, has an elevation
of +38 degrees and a depression of -8 degrees.
So, it can be effective against low-flying targets.
The GI-2 is the first autocannon with a dual feeding system.
The 20mm armour-piercing projectiles, fired from the GI-2, have an effective range of
1,000 metres, and the high-explosive ones' effective range is 2,000 metres.
The Ratel 20 carries 1,200 20mm rounds.
The 20 guns of the Zambian Ratel 20s have been removed.
Some Jordanian Ratel 20s have the 329 horsepower Cummins QSM11-C330 diesel engine and the BAU-23
turret carrying a twin-barrel 23mm autocannon.
The Ratels of the Rwanda Defence Force also have this turret.
In the early combat operations, the Eland 90s accompanied the Ratel 20s.
But, the 4x4 Eland 90s lacked sufficient mobility to keep pace with the 6x6 Ratels.
Also, operating these vehicles together, one with diesel and one with petrol engines, caused
some logistical problems.
Thus, the Ratel was fitted with the Eland 90 turret to solve this problem.
But, the new variant, the Ratel 90, has the improved 90mm GT2 semi-auto rifled quick-firing
gun.
In this version, the vehicle commander sits inside the turret, and the section commander
sits near the left door.
The number of infantry of the Ratel 90 is reduced to seven to open more space for 90mm
ammunition.
The GT2 has an elevation of +15 degrees and a depression of -8 degrees.
The 90mm high-explosive anti-tank projectiles have an effective range of 1,200 metres, and
the high-explosive ones' effective range is 2,200 metres.
The Ratel 90 carries 71 90mm rounds, and its combat weight is 19 tons.
The Ratel 60 variant has the 60mm breech-loaded M2 mortar with an effective range is 300 metres
in the direct role and 1,500 meters in the indirect role.
It carries 51 mortar rounds.
But, the actual mortar carrier variant of the vehicle is the Ratel 81.
Its 81mm mortar, mounted on a turntable with a 360-degree traverse, has a maximum range
of 7,265 metres and a rate of fire of 20 rounds per minute.
The Ratel 81 has only one firing port on each side.
There are 80 81mm mortar rounds in the vehicle.
The variant with 120mm mortar never passed the prototype stage.
During the operations in Angola and Southwest Africa, using the Ratel 90 for the anti-tank
role, which was intended to be a fire support vehicle, caused some complications.
So, the anti-tank missile carrier variant of the vehicle, the Ratel ZT-3, was introduced
to overcome this problem.
It can fire two semi-automatic laser-guided ZT-3 Swifts in one minute.
The missile has an effective range of 4,000 metres and can penetrate 650-millimetre armour.
The armour penetration capability of the B variant is 1,000 millimetres.
The Ratel ZT-3's turret, a modified variant of the Ratel 60's turret, has three launchers
and one 7,62mm coaxial machine gun.
It carries 12 additional missiles inside.
The reloading is carried out manually.
The Ratel Command variant is fitted with a 12.7mm machine gun instead of a 20 or 76mm
gun to open more space for the command staff.
It has an air-conditioning system to prevent the additional communications equipment from
overheating.
The Ratel armoured repair vehicle has a fixed lifting jib with four tubular steel posts
mounted on the rear hull.
Since we cannot find any visual of this variant, we think it probably never passed the prototype
stage.
South Africa terminated the Ratel version with the enhanced artillery observation system
because of its high costs.
The 8x8 Ratel Logistic Support Vehicle never passed the prototype stage.
For trial purposes, one Ratel was fitted with the LCT-35 turret.
The iKlwa armoured personnel carrier, developed for foreign markets, was a further development
of the Ratel.
But, it has not been chosen by any country.
We should add that the Belgian company BN Constructions Ferroviaires et Metalliques
bought the design rights of the Ratel and developed the SIBMAS.
The Malaysian Army is the only user of this vehicle.
Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Djibouti, Ghana, Jordan, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, South
Africa and Zambia are the current users of the Ratel.
Also, the fighting sides in Libya and Yemen use this vehicle.
The Ratel 20 has a three-person crew consisting of a commander, gunner and driver and can
also carry eight infantry.
The vehicle has a length of 7.21 metres, a width of 2.51 metres, and a height of 2.92
metres.
Its combat weight is up to 17,500 kilograms.
The 282-horsepower Büssing D 3256 BTXF turbocharged diesel engine provides a road speed of 105
kilometres per hour.
Its range is 1,000 kilometres.
The Ratel 20 can negotiate 0.6-metre vertical steps and 1.15-metre trenches.
And It can be ford to a depth of 1.2 metres.
The vehicle has one 20mm GI-2 autocannon and three 7.62mm machine guns, one coaxial, one
on the top of the turret, and one at the rear.
The Ratel was designed according to the SADF's mobile tactics based on avoiding frontal attacks
on well-prepared defended positions and conducting surprise flanking attacks by confusing the
enemy with continuous manoeuvring.
The battalion-sized columns, formed around the Ratels and contained the Buffels and Elands,
were deployed near the border to conduct deep raids into Angola against SWAPO training and
logistic camps.
The SADF's Ratel battlegroup tactics did not contain occupying and holding static positions.
During the South African Border War, the vehicle repeatedly proved its protection level against
landmines.
The only fatal mine detonation incident involving the Ratel was during 1982 Operation Meebos.
During 1987 Operation Moduler, one Ratel 20 managed to destroy an Angolan T-55 by lucky
shoots of 20mm armour-piercing rounds, which penetrated the weakest side of the tank armour
and ignited the onboard ammunition.
Although the Ratel 90 was not designed as a tank destroyer, it knocked out many Soviet-built
tanks.
Even though the 90mm GT2 gun did not have enough power to penetrate the frontal armours
of the T-54, T-55 and T-62s, the skilful Ratel 90 crew managed to outmanoeuvre their enemies
and attack these tanks from their weakest parts.
Yet, the 6x6 Ratel had a low trench-cross capability.
When the vehicle was stuck in a hole or trench - there were plenty of them around the SWAPO
camps - it became a sitting duck and easy prey for 23mm ZU-23-2 guns deployed in large
numbers around these facilities.
Still, the SADF commanders of the South African Border War have defined the Ratel as the most
prised armoured vehicle.
The Moroccans have also used the Ratel against the Polisario Front successfully in Western
Sahara.
The Ratels are still fighting in Cameroon, Libya, Mozambique and Yemen.
South Africa has decided to replace the Ratel with the Badger, a variant of the Patria AMV.
However, in 2020, Denel, which will produce the Badger locally, declared that its financial
and technical capabilities were inadequate for this project, which may cause its bankruptcy.
And two years later, Armscor advised that the South African National Defence Force should
terminate the programme and focus on upgrading the existing Ratel fleet.
Yet, we should admit that this highly prised predator is now nearly 50 years old and tired.
Yes, it still has the potential to add new pages to its saga, but just in low-intensity
conflicts.
Nevertheless, the Ratel undoubtedly deserves to be remembered as an unforgettable legend.
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