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Editor Engelbrecht Archive

Previously published reports and articles with continued relevance

Archive: Whither the Defence Industry?

The state of the "defence-related" industry is terrible and it's getting worse. The question of whether there will still be a defence...

Archive: Doing the “Petronius Arbiter”

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The SA National Defence force is currently in the midst of yet another re-organisation and yet the talk is about deployments at...

Archive:Africa: The last great untapped defence market

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Africa is the last great untapped defence market. By the end of this decade Africa plans to have a multi-brigade United Nations-style...

Archive: Military Engineers — Masters of Mobility

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The military engineer is arguably the most under-rated individual on the battlefield. Yet military engineers have been leaders in innovation in the...

Archive: SANDF at 10: An assessment

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The SA National Defence Force is fast approaching the tenth anniversary of its founding on April 27, 1994. Although ten-year reviews are...

Archive: Building a new SANDF soldier by sailor by airman

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The central thesis is that the SA National Defence Force will have to solve its staff problems before it can begin to...

Archive: February 2004 address to ENSP

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Seldom in the conduct of human affairs have two groups been more predisposed to misunderstand each other than the military and journalists....

Archive: Hocus Pocus with TOE

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Much intellectual capital has been expended on divining the perfect organigram and equipment fit of units, battalion/regiment and below. Most proponents go into...

Archive: Army underfunded

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The Army is so under-funded that it no longer fields a combat-ready parachute capability. This has emerged from a recent briefing to...

Archive: SA’s third democratic election comes and goes, no policy changes expected

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South Africa's third democratic, nonracial election since 1994 has come and gone, leaving in its wake little but speculation on who will...

Archive: Uniform reform

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The camouflage uniform has not been an unqualified success. While they certainly let the wearer "feel" more soldierly and therefore contribute to...

Archive: SANDF in large scale spring-cleaning

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Looking for previously owned arms? Armscor may have a bargain for you! The South African Department of Defence's (DOD) acquisitions (and disposals)...

Archive: Serving at whose convenience?

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   Has our Constitution, billed as among the most progressive in the world, become a license to leisure for some in the...

Archive: How long is a piece of string?

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The minutes of the Portfolio Committee on Defence (PCOD) and the Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) -- available to the public...

Archive: The infantry

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Although up to one in three members of the SA National Defence Force belong to the South African Infantry Corps (SAIC), not...

Archive: Artillery – The God of War

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Traditionally -- and statistically -- the artillery has been the major killer on the battlefield. Simply put, the task of the infantry...

Archive: A matter of opinion

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Opinions are a wonderful escape from reality. Germans spent most of the final years of World War Two believing they were winning...

Archive: The Air-Ground Task Force

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The case for the Air-Ground Task Force (AGTF) was made in the November 2001 edition this Journal. This article will build on...

Archive: Aerospace strategy takes wing

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A long-anticipated strategy to boost South Africa's aerospace sector the way that the Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP) bolstered the country's car-making...

Archive: The Willi Sanger battalion: modern-day Seydlitz troops?

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The Nationalen Volksarmee (National People's Army, NVA) of the defunct German Democratic Republic (East Germany, GDR), combined the essential elements of Prussian...

Archive: SA unveils Rogue CIWS

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RDL Technologies is a step closer to unleashing its "Rogue" close-in weapons system (CIWS) on the world market, after a series of...

Archive: Army fashioning a future vision

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November 2005 The Army is fashioning a vision for the next 15 years and its chief has asked the public to contribute. Lt...

Archive: Kenya copying SA defence reforms

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Kenya is copying and customising South African defence reforms, policy and planning to suit its own circumstances in a bid to stamp...

Archive: Defence oversight still weak in Mozambique

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Defence oversight is still weak in Mozambique, a study on military budgets in Africa has found.FEATURE-AU-DEFENCE-MOZ by Leon Engelbrecht    ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia...

Archive: Defence spending not unique

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Africa has to stop treating military budgets as unique, a conference on the matter heard at the weekend.    Armed forces in Africa...

Archive: Donor pressure causes dishonesty

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Donor pressure for budget reform in Africa was often met with official dishonesty, case studies in eight countries have found. AU-DEFENCE-DONORS    ADDIS ABABA,...

Archive: Navy was catalyst in defence oversight revolution

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The SA Navy was the unwitting catalyst that triggered South Africa's defence oversight revolution when it went to Parliament in 1995 to...

Archive: Ethiopian defence spending irrational

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 Ethiopia's defence spending was irrational, a first-of-its-kind study on defence budgets in Africa has found.FEATURE-AU-DEFENCE-ETHIOPIA by Leon Engelbrecht    ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia May...

Archive: Offbeat – Travel in Ethiopia

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On the way from the airport, our taxi had no headlights, one functioning windscreen wiper to rearrange the water from a torrential...

Archive: Women making rapid progress in Navy

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Women are making rapid progress in the SA Navy, Vice-Admiral Refiloe Mudimu said on Monday. ...

Archive: Navy setting up rapid deployment force for peacekeeping

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The Navy plans to better contribute to peacekeeping in Africa by setting up a naval rapid deployment force (NRDF), Vice Admiral Refiloe...

Archive: IMPI: Extract from the IISS Military Balance 2002

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"In a further development, military commentators in South Africa have discussed the creation of an Indigenous Military Peacebuilding Initiative (IMPI)..." "Sub-Saharan Africa Regional...

Archive: NATO underlines IMPI idea

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If recent events in the Ivory Coast did not sufficiently highlight the urgent need to implement a programme akin to the Indigenous...

Archive: Is SA defenceless against air attack?

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The arrival of the third and fourth Saab JAS39 Gripen D aircraft in SA follows a series of reports in the mass...

Archive: Arms acquisition: A paper

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Arms acquisition is, was and will always be unpopular with the public.Telling want from need in the quest for  responsible armaments acquisition by...

Archive: The military-media relationship

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The nature of the media-military relationship is one of mutual ambivalence, suspicion and antagonism, for a variety of reasons.The military through media...

Africa not spending enough on defence

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No African country was objectively spending enough on defence, a conference on military budgetary processes in Africa heard on Thursday.AU-DEFENCE-BUDGET ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia;...

Archive: A New Model Army

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Three regular brigades, backed by Special Forces, Airborne troops and Reservists. That is the answer to the question vexing SA Army chief...

Archive: SADC Mutual Defence Pact creates new defence market

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In case of emergency, hold talk shop. That's the executive summary of the recently adopted Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mutual Defence...

Archive: AU Standby Force takes shape

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By the end of this decade Africa should have a six brigade UN-style force ready to police the continent's trouble spot. In...

Archive: Report to the IHEDN

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The time has come for Africa to seize control of its security agenda and drive hard for peace on the mother continent.Committee...

Archive: Welcome to Trainica

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The SA National War College (SANWC), the SA National Defence Force's (SANDF) school for operational level commanders and staff officers, has just...

Archive: HR2010 – New, improved, with lemon fresh scent

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It's cover reads "June 2002", but by June 2004 the Department of Defence's (DoD) Human Resources 2010 strategy document had still not...

Archive: An IMPI for Africa

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There is a growing consenus that NEPAD needs a bodyguard regiment, or to lend a word from the Zulu language, an "impi"...

Archive: Military possibilities of the African Union

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The African Union (AU) will take shape as a structure over the next year and as a reality over the coming decades....

Archive: Is there still consensus on defence in SA?

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Defence commentators are asking whether there is still a national consensus on defence, a factor identified by South Africa's military as a...

Links to useful manuals

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The United States Marine Corps has produced some of the finest military manuals available today – and they are available on the...

Test

These are key manuals Man 1 Man 2 Man 3

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