Ratel IFV

The Ratel is a South African infantry fighting vehicle. It was the first wheeled infantry fighting vehicle to enter service worldwide and was built on a modified MAN truck chassis. The Ratel was designed in response to a South African Army specification for a light armoured vehicle suited to the demands of rapid offensives, providing maximum firepower and strategic mobility to mechanised infantry units intended to operate across the vast distances of Southern Africa. Primarily envisaged in SADF doctrine as a vehicle that could deliver mechanised infantry and supporting fire to tanks in conventional warfare, it was also anticipated that the Ratel could form the centrepiece for semi-independent battlegroups where logistics or politics precluded the use of tanks. The Ratel was a simple, economical design which helped reduce the significant logistical commitment necessary to keep heavier combat vehicles operational in undeveloped regions. It was generally regarded as an influential concept which incorporated a number of novel features, such as a mine-protected hull and a 20 mm autocannon fitted with what was then a unique twin-linked ammunition feed, allowing turret gunners to rapidly swap between ammunition types during combat. The first Ratel prototype appeared in March 1972, and serial production commenced in 1976. Rights to the original prototype were also sold to Belgium, which produced an amphibious derivative known as the SIBMAS. The Ratel was produced in three distinct marks between 1976 and 1987, when production ceased. All three marks were modified for a number of diverse battlefield roles. Specialised variants of the Ratel carried mortars, anti-tank guided missiles, or a turret-mounted 90 mm rifled gun.