Rooikat Armored Fighting Vehicle - South African Firepower 

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I was a gunner on the Rooikat, it was an amazing experience. The only difficulty was shooting on the go doing 90km/h through the dirt when you hit a trench with your eye on the scope. I often had a blue eye!! The targeting was fully computerised and takes into account many different factors that may influence the travel of the projectile. You can also lock on target while driving and turning. Night vision was absolutely amazing. I love the smell of cordite in the morning! Thanks for doing the video, brought back fond memories.

As a South African , I really appreciate that you post content about our country. ❤

I served as a member of the citizen force in the old SADF from 1979 up to 1989 in a mechanised battalion. The developement of the Rooikat started in the early 1980's and it was not intended as merely a replacement for the French Panhard armored cars. The Panhard armoured cars were locally manufactured as the Eland, and was locally upgraded to serve an effective role supporting the South African armoured columns during the 1980's. The Rooikat was a weapon designed for the South African theater of war where the map of the entire continent of Western Europe could fit onto the map of Southern Africa. Over such a vast area, land battles are not fought in the conventional sense of holding and controlling territory but in a similar fashion to naval forces that conduct outflanking maneuvers darting in to deliver vicious blows on the flanks. It was with that in mind that the Rooikat was developed and that made it unique in the world at that time. In the 1980's, the Rooikat was called South Africa's insurance policy, a weapon that could outflank the enemy formations and penetrate for at least 1,600 km before requiring refueling, delivering a vicious blow to rear echolon supply lines or enemy formations and melt away into the bush only to strike again on another distant target. With such distances, supply lines were everything and whichever side had the best logistic supply could overcome their enemy. Conversely, whichever side can ground the enemy supply columns to an effective halt would force the enemy formations into a defensive stance or even a retreat. In the African bush the primary supply line would effectively be a single dirt or asphalt road running for hundreds of kilometers through the bush. However, the South African bush war effectively ended after 1987 before the Rooikat was ever used in actual battle. The closest modern day equivalent of a vehicle that is used in the context that the Rooikat was designed for, are the Toyota Land Cruisers mounting heavy armament that ISIS used in Syria and Iraq to great effect, by rapidly advancing over considerable distances in order to deliver devastating blows on the flanks of conventional formations. Thus ISIS could force the rapid capitulation of a series of defensive positions over hundreds of kilometers behind their enemy front lines, by outflanking and destroying lines of communication.

South Africa has a robust defense industry that took me by surprise. The stated owned Denel firm has a ton of systems including vehicles and missiles and I look forward to your take and presentations.

I can testify that this vehicle is 100 % locally designed and built. Even the tyres were locally developed to offer sufficient penetration resistance to thorns, but at the same time being able to handle those high road speeds without over heating.

South Africans taking on russian tanks with armored APC's! Thanx for the awesome video!! Ive heard that the Rooikat and Ratel were so versatile that they could replace major components on it while being towed..

Hey Matsimus really happy about this. I am a South African and I am very proud to be one. I know you are more of a land based vehicle guy, but it would be nice if you checked out the Rooivalk helicopter. It was an absolute beast of a machine. Anyways thanks very much for exploring South African military vehicles, I get goose bumps when I find videos about them.

Nice, thanks for covering some of the SADF equipment, it is often forgotten

As an American, I am impressed with this armored vehicle, not too shabby honestly. I actually think this is a well put together infantry assualt vehicle. I do enjoy African technology.

I have been waiting for you to start covering South African vehicles. since a young age i was tolled about them because my dad was a driver during the border war in the late 80's but never been able to find much information on these vehicles.

Proudly designed and built by the Afrikaner !!!!

Omg you're finally doing the G6! I've been obsessed with that piece of artillery since a couple of years ago. I'm looking forward to the video. Thanks Matsimus.

As a South African and veteran of the Angolan boarder war.... I Salute you for doing it....... This vehicle is still ander appreciated and was amazing for its time

How sad to realize that the current SA government has totally destroyed this technological prowess

That thing has a 1000km range?! I didn't expect this to have much of a range, that's amazing!

Technically there "is" a 120mm rooikat, the defense industry mounted a 120mm autoloading remote turret into a rooikat as the easiest way to show off their next generation of remote and armament systems, so it is entirely possible for the vehicle to be upgraded in the future. IIRC it also has the LEDS APS stuck to it to be shown off too. So if any neighbours buy something bigger then a T72a the South Africans can always look to upgun too. (though ofcourse, when you look at it, you do wonder "how is the crew supposed to get out if the turret isnt facing forwards")

Excellent Review. I served at School of Armour, SADF and although I was stationed on the Olifant Mk2 Main Battle Tank, had plenty of opportunity to see this vehicle in action. It is worth noting that the vehicle is served, same as the Olifant MBT, with a manual loader. A well trained loader can load very fast, and definitely outperforms the autoloader systems in many situations.. :) my opinion anyway ...

My dad was in the south African military during the Angola border war the war you talked about

The Saladin of the 21st Century. It looks pretty solid by now that 8 wheels are the optimal solution for long range fast reaction AFV's. The 530+hp engine and 100+kph look very good for open bush/desert deployments. Good one Matt.

The Ratel and the Rooikat laid the foundation for all the land mine resistant wheeled fighting vehicles out there today.

Thanks so much Matsimus for covering the Rooikat , and its great to hear you've got plans to cover more South African equipment including the G6. Really looking forward to those!

Hey Matsimus, your channel has really helped me research different military vehicles to put into my novel. Albeit it's set in the future and there are significant advances in technology, such as starships, railguns, and walkers, tanks and IFV are still very important in ground engagements. So just wanted to say thank you!

Finaly SA made your channel. I am proud of what used to be an effective military now degraded to an dump.

There really aren't enough good videos on South African equipment. Keep up the great work man!

Matsimus Thanks for doing a cover on the Rooikat. Never knew much about a native export before your video. Looking forward to your vid on the G-6 - that was always my favorite display piece at the Johannesburg Military History Museum near where I stay. Keep up the great work!

The good old days of the 80's when we could still build things like this, and then the ANC took over and FUCKED everything up for the whole country!

Wow based on their promotional video, I'm convinced that they've developed the Airwolf as well!

Thanks for this video of one of the best wheeled AFVs around!

Hey man, love the video, I work for the SANDF, and just wanted to say they also did make a 105mm version, so there is 2 that I do know off but yes there is a 105mm turret config and manufacture product also.

This is and was the vehicle to meet S Africa's needs. Very interesting information on an impressive wheeled vehicle.

I miss my early child hood years and reruns of the 70s, 80s, 90s haha love those old video footage from the 80s

Really impressive vehicle . Ahead of our time in modern warfare.

I think wheeled vehicles are gonna be best for the next major conflict. Strategic mobility, rapid deployment and easier logistics will be winning features. Tanks are easier to kill now and speed will be better than heavy armour and tracked mobility. Not that we wont need tracked tanks and apcs as a powerful tool, but i think QRF forces on wheels would be very useful and first into any fight.

As a South African I'm so grateful that your talking about my countries military, it makes me feel more patriotic about my country. Also Rooikat is pronounced "Roy - Cut"

Thanks for this upload, good video, nice to see some support for the great military equipment South Africa has designed and built over the years.

I love how the commentator is saying most high tech electronics and she was sitting tightening up a massive slotted screw

Very impressive! I visited RSA years ago and loved it…

Thanks mate. The promo video is pretty old but I would love you to do The Eland and Ratel. They were great against the T-34 and T55 tanks the Angolans were using with the Cuban help.

Nice vehicles and I got the G6 model, but its a shame what they are doing to their farmers.

We were there... We delivered.. We made the rules... Retief, we salute our general!.. We were forged in fire... Vlam van die Pantser!!! Thank you so much for this video...ex School of Armour soldier, tanker salute.. Diesel an dust at Lohatla Sands Resort

thumbs up for this video because i've never heard an old skool south african accent until now

Nice! Thanx Mat! Next: G6 Artillery Piece. Can't wait!

@Matsimus Thanks for Doing the Video we have been waiting for

Thanks for the video, sounds accurate. I was trained on the rooikat as part of my military service in 1992. The rooikats mobility was truly amazing , it goes anywhere without a hitch. We never got stuck once in the year thatI spent on it. The cannon was impressive as well. The armour piercing FS sabot round went through a T72s armour, burning a hole as big as a fist as it exits on the other side. I agree with you that an105mm gun would have provided better HE (high explosive) rounds. The HE rounds did have a programmable timer function so that the round would bounce on the ground and then explode, causing fragmentation against infantry. The car was technically very reliable and I think it would have been a formidable adversary on the border war. Unfortunately the border war ended just before the rooikat was introduced so it did not see any action.

Thnx from a ex 20 mm ratel gunner from 1979 onwards..yeah the Eiland had a little 4 cylinder engine that had the tendency to overheating on long hauls or in hot dusty conditions but packed a solid punch in battle with its 90 mm gun and small cheeky size, the rooi kat is based on the ratel and though the main gun is smaller its still a verry good replacement for the much smaller eland and way more reliable deffo..though its huge don't let that fool u..its so fast as the ratel also is that its a damn hard target to hit if ur not using some sort of lock on system..and yes..wheels can be flat and blown off but like the ratel these things just keep on going lmao 🤣

If only the SADF had upgraded this into a vehicle with a 120 cannon it would have been a world beater and been a contender to sell worldwide.

Hey awesome! You actually did the Rooikat! Thank you

Interesting. They seem to be using it sort of like a light tank.

Yayyy more South African vids :) South African here btw hoping to join the army when I'm out of school I was surprised to hear that the vehicle could fire APFSDS😱

I don't think the SADF adopted the 105, & there has been a canister round developed & adopted. Thanks for a good review. I've seen the Rooikat in action at the Army Battle School, what a machine!

I was a instructor on the 20mm Ratel, so I look forward to your review when you get around to the Ratel range.

The choice of 76 mm may have been largely due to Denel knowing the oto melara naval gun and being able to easily modify it for one shot, manual reload. The 2nd (and perhaps brilliant) reason might be balance. Wheeled vehicles seem not to be very good at handling larger calibers (they bounce and rock) so, if you are looking for accuracy while traveling at high speed, the 76mm was a great choice. The 105mm seems to have come along in an effort to increase commonality with potential customers using NATO 105mm guns, but doing so overpowers the chassis. You can live with it, but it is not the "designed for" gun. (my 2c, so take it for what it's worth :) )

It looks like the love child from an Abrams and a Stryker. Awesome.

Man this video is going to draw a lot of cranks out of the woodwork! Edit: What may be noteworthy is that our border regions are almost entirely very dry brush areas and that our country is classified as Semi- Arid in general. Tracks would only make great sense for tanks. Additionally when these IFV's were designed we still had control of Namibia ( a massive desert country) and massive influence in Zimbabwe and Botswana. We had a lot of space to trade for time and highly mobile warfare would have greatly suited our then experienced armed force so despite all the talk of a communist plot to take over the world ( smearing the ANC& others) no one still probably seriously expected the Spanish inquisition in the form of 50 000 Cubans and simply didn't design weapons to cope with that possibility. Edit: Not as many cranks as i expected.... Thanks Matt; don't be ashamed of not knowing too much about us down South. :)

Thanks Matsumis.I really like you because you're not bias. I live in Namibia and I would like you to talk about Casspir Ifv vehicle it one of my favourite vehicle

Thanks for that, in answer to the wheeled component of the design, other than the obvious sand wear issue and the huge benefit in speed, range, etc, etc, was landmines which were used extensively. One will disable a tracked vehicle immediately whereas this and other vehicles of this multiple wheel design could loose a wheel or two and still be mobile, at a reduced capability, but not a sitting duck in a possible ambush situation. One thing you appear not to be aware of is that SA continued to produce similar vehicles for a very large Western presence in the Middle East with similar local conditions. I worked for a sub-contractor that supplied bits and bobs for them at the time. That voice over guy sounds so familiar, can't place him though.

Great video. Thanks.

Dude! Quality content! But BREATHE once in a while. Wall-to-wall high-speed narration is overwhelming. Best wishes for your continued success!

Invention idea! Make a quad of wheels that can attach to the front and back of a tank. These rear units can be driven by a jack shaft from the tanks engine and with the front unit for steering, raise the treads off the ground. Both units would be dropped when getting to the operational area. Another use would be for when a tank loose a tread, the quads would raise the tank for fixing the treads, or to keep it mobile till other fixes. The attachment points would be hinged at the top with the the lower end winched into place.

I was a Rooikat driver back in '93, 1SSB Tempe, Bloemfontein.

Hrmmm, looks like the BOSS has captured a few of these 😊

I can not adequately articulate the feeling of power standing in the turret while this machine is moving and firing! The most fun you can have with all your clothes on!

I like these vehicles like the Centauro, AMX-10 RC Stryker AGS or the Rooikat. Very mobile, could be deployed easy with an airplane, good firepower for self defense on Reece missions, excellent firepower for Infantry support during COIN missions!

Thanx Matsimus 4 this great video. The "South African Republic" was crated in 1854 with the Zandrivier Convention and that Republic was terminated by the English in 1902 AD. The name was only in Dutch and read as "Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek" or as "Zuidafrikaansche Republiek". The English called that Republic the "Transvaal". 59 Years later a new Republic was recreated. It read as follow in Afrikaans, Dutch and English "Republiek van Suid-Afika", "Republiek van Zuid-Afrika", "Republic of South Africa". The "South African National Defense Force"(SANDF)was recreate in 1994 AD. The Prior to 1994 it was called in English the SADF (South African Defense Force).

20 Cubans don't like the Rooikat.

What a fantastic vehicle.

Gotta get me one of these for Canadian winter months.

YOU UNDERESTIMATED SOUTH AFRICA.. BUT WE LOVE YOUR WORK

This advertising movie from the 80's and electronic music in background... Looks like directly taken from the "Airwolf" series, or "Mac Gyver"... Also the VHS quality... Man, I have memories! Good old times :)

120 kph...JEEZ.

As Matsimus would say, "That's a Sweet piece of kit!!"

currently the newer Rooikat version carries the 105mm Gun. Plus it looks larger and heavier than these past videos.

Awesome brutal machine, I worked on the turret project.

The US army is looking for a new light tank, something at around 30 tons and fires 120mm main gun. I belive there are some light tank prototypes out there from Poland an Sweden. Russia also has a light tank or tank destroyer. Maybe go over the different models and needs for a light tank.

I like this platform. Add an anti-tank launcher that can reach out beyond the main gun and you have a serious all-around vehicle. With an infantry carrying variant you can go full spectrum.

Could you do a video about the history of tanks. Not just one era of tanks, from the MK1, little Willy, and A7V to the Leopard 2A6, T-14 Armata, and M1A2? Obviously, it could be more of an overview and not an extremely detailed account of each vehicle.

Thank you for the vids on RSA stuff. Kind regards from South Africa.

it's interesting that the manufacturers are seemingly moving away from 105/90mm for wheeled AVs. There was a lot of noise in France about the "downgrade" from 105 to 40mm (AMX 10 to Jaguar) but it makes sense to me considering the Leclercs 120mm.

My brother was a "Ratel" driver (honey badger). Basically an APC.

I think the reason a higher calibre wasn't chosen initially, is because you can fit more rounds into the vehicle when they are smaller, and for any more heavily armoured threats you habe things like the Olifant and Ratel ZT3, which are more than capable of knocking out a tank

Hi Matt, ever had any experience or encounters on the Warthog (Bronco ATTC)? I was trained in the Bronco during my National Service in the SAF about 15 years back and I've always been interested in how the vehicle performed when it was in service with the British Army. 😁 Hope to see a vid for it soon, thanks. 😁

120kph is pretty damn impressive. How many tanks do you see where you can get a speeding ticket on a highway? The armour and main gun don't stack up with main battle tanks, then again for what it was likely to go up against it probably did well. Though I would like to see how well it did against mines and RPGs.

Looking forward to the G-6 Rhino vid Matsimus 👍👍👍

Hey Matsimus! Please take a look at my Abrams and Maus tank models. I made them from clay (they can woll and rotate turrets :D) and would love your thoughts there!

Dude, How did I miss this video ? So Proud of my country South Africa. We HAD* such a good military.

Not super familiar with AFVs but it certainly seems rather effective with its combination of speed and terrain handling. I wonder if there are new upgraded versions in development or production.. unless it still holds up well against comparable vehicles in other armies. Well considering that few of SA's neighbours probably have more modern vehicles perhaps that is not yet neccesary

I think the main limitation of the 76 mm gun is that it limits how much high explosive you can get in a shell.

@Matsimus Matsimus sir in your experience and opinion do you think the Rooikat would be any better off of it had a copy of the KWK pak43 L/70 88mm gun used on the king tiger?

From a South African friend..... Go view the G5. I'm shure you will just love it....

these guys should get half of the revenue from this video

Condidering it has been in production the last 30 years it is nitpicking: 1) The wheelbase is a bit long for my taste: It gives better trench crossing, but a greater turning circle. 2) It has a decent engine. 3) The 76 mm. should be sufficient for South Africa from the basic consideration: How the devil is the opposition going to tote heavy armour up to where they are needed. 4) A tad more armour?? But a refridgeration system might be more relevant? In all it seems to be a nice and practical vehicle. I do share the opinion that a 105 mm. would make the vehicle more exportable.

We call it the border war (grens oorlog). Sounded like you said boer war (anglo boer war). Awesome to see our own vehicles. Thanks keep it up.

Can you do a vid on the Oshkosh M-ATV/L-ATV

These took out T55's back in Angola.

The musik in the video! XD

This is an incredible video! thanks for doing this up! I was pretty impressed that it can be an 8 x 8 and also the fact that it had runflats back in t he days!!!

i would like to see Canada do something like the gun on this with the LAV

great showcase of this vehicle, wouldn't mind owning one

Rooikat in a nutshell: Hanz...get sie Puma XDXDXDXD