The South African Department of Defence (DoD) aims to put Denel’s Africa Truck into production from next year for the South African Army.
This is according to the 2017 DoD Annual Performance Plan, which states that “the DoD has taken the initiative to develop a multipurpose support vehicle called “Truck Africa” [sic], designed to enhance the Landward Defence Programme. The FY2017/18 will see the development of the initial prototype and the resourced production in the FY2018/19.”
The Performance Plan notes this is part of the renewal of the South African National Defence Force’s (SANDF’s) landward defence capability. This renewal programme remains a Chief of the SANDF Focus Area in support of the defence ministry’s Capability Sustainment Direction which did not form part of the 1998 Strategic Defence Packages, the Performance Plan notes.
Although the DoD wants to put the Africa Truck into production, this would obviously be dependent on funding as well as going through the correct procurement processes.
Denel Vehicle Systems unveiled the Africa Truck at the 2016 Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition outside Pretoria where it was positioned as a potential replacement for the South African Army’s Samil truck fleet. The prototype was built in response to a SA Military Command Council request to Armscor, Denel, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to come up with ideas for a logistic vehicle.
The Africa Truck is based on the RG-31 armoured vehicle and features ballistic and mine protection (Stanag Level 2 protection, affording protection against armour piercing ammunition and a high degree of mine protection). It can be built in 4×4, 6×6 or 8×8 configurations. As it is designed to be constructed on a modular bases it will be able to be reconfigured to a variety of customer requirements for different loads and weapons for protection.
It has been fitted with Denel Vehicle Systems’ 7.62 mm SD ROW remotely operated weapons station on the roof.
