The Ratel IFV was designed with the South African environment and the combat experience of the South African Defence Force (SADF) foremost in mind. For example, it has considerably more firepower than most comparable infantry fighting vehicles—ranging from machine guns up to a 90-mm cannon. Modern versions can therefore be considered to have evolved into multirole armoured vehicles from their original infantry fighting vehicle design.
| Ratel IFV | |
|---|---|
| Type | Infantry fighting vehicle |
| Place of origin |  South Africa |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1968 |
| Produced | 1974 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 18.5 tonnes |
| Length | 7.212 m |
| Width | 2.5.16 m |
| Height | 2.915 m |
| Crew | 3 + 7 |
| | |
| Armor | 20 mm |
| Main armament | 20 mm semi-automatic cannon |
| Secondary armament | 1 x 7.62 mm MG (coaxial), 7.62 mm MG (anti-aircraft), 1 x 7.62 mm MG (anti-aircraft), 2 x 2 smoke grenade dischargers |
| Engine | D 3256 BTXF 6-cylinder in-line turbocharged diesel 282 hp (210 kW) |
| Power/weight | 15.24 hp/tonne |
| Suspension | Wheeled 6x6, 350mm clearance |
| Operational range | 1000 km |
| Speed | 105 km/h (road); 30 km/h (off-road) |
Ratel IFV Mobility
It is wheeled, with six run-flat tires for the long-distance speed, mobility, and ease of maintenance that tracked vehicles lack. Furthermore, unlike the United States Army's M2/M3 Bradley or Warsaw Pact's BMP designs, the Ratel does not need to be transported long distances on trains or trailer trucks; it can simply be driven to the destination. The Ratel's ground clearance and cross-country performance are very good -certainly adequate for the generally rolling and arid terrain it usually operates in- and the vehicle has a ride which SADF crews often compared favourably to civilian cars. SADF crews also frequently praised the visibility imparted by the vehicle's high profile; although it makes the Ratel a bigger target, it enables the crews to see the surrounding area more easily, a key factor when maneuvering in the bush, where grass can grow to three meters in height.
Landmine protection
The Ratel's design also gives far more consideration to protection against land mines than most armoured vehicles of its era, reflecting SADF experience and priorities. Like the Casspir and Buffel vehicles, the bottom of the hull is angled and reinforced so as to deflect mine blasts out to the sides. The Ratel's wheels, if damaged, are also much easier to repair or replace than tracks. The vehicle also has multiple doors and hatches; the two main doors are located in the vehicle's sides, but a small rear door and roof hatches allow the crew to exit the vehicle from many directions at once, or to more easily dismount under cover during an ambush.
Ratel IFV Armour
The Ratel is relatively lightly armoured, in order to preserve mobility, weapons space, and range. The vehicle is well-protected against bullets and artillery shell splinters, but is vulnerable to anti-tank guns, automatic cannon such as the Warsaw Pact 23 mm AA guns (which were often used in a ground-fire role in Angola), rocket-propelled grenades and guided missiles. The SADF's experience during the South African Border War in Angola showed that Ratels were far more likely to be faced with small-arms fire and mines in small-unit actions or ambushes than to run into main battle tanks in pitched battles. More to the point, the Ratel is a personnel carrier and not a tank, and is not intended to engage main battle tanks.
Ratel IFV Armament
The basic Ratel's (designated Ratel-20) primary armament consists of a 20 mm automatic cannon mounted in a non-powered turret at the front of the vehicle, supplemented by a coaxial 7.62 × 51 mm NATO machine gun and a 7.62 × 51 mm calibre pintle-mounted machine gun mounted by the commander's roof hatch. The 20mm cannon is belt fed and has a high rate of fire. Ammunition is selected for specific engagements and typically consists of a combination of HE (high explosive) and APTC (armour piercing tungsten carbide) rounds in sequence. The APTC is capable of destroying a tank as evidenced during Operation Protea in Xangongo. The Ratel also has four rifle ports on each side of the vehicle, allowing the infantrymen to fire from within the vehicle. An additional pintle-mounted dual machine gun (removed on later models), accessed from a roof hatch, is located at the rear of the Ratel's upper deck and provides cover for the Ratel's rear quarter. The crew consists of commander, driver, gunner as well as seven infantrymen.
The Ratel-60 and Ratel-90 variants are otherwise identical, save that the former mounts a 60 mm breech-loading mortar in turrets taken from the Eland 60 armored cars, and the Ratel-90 mounts a 90 mm low-velocity gun and also has a three-man crew. The 60 mm mortar is most effectively used in firing smoke shells, and is generally useless against armored vehicles or dug-in troops.
The Ratel-90 fire-support variant is an unusual vehicle in that it can carry an infantry squad while retaining a 90 mm turret gun. The Ratel-90 does not normally carry a full squad, but in the least it ensures that such a squad has fire support from the 90 mm gun. Although the Squadrons issued the Ratel-90 were referred to as Anti-Tank, it is not a tank destroyer.
Anti-tank capabilities
The low-velocity 90 mm gun, a license-made copy of the 1950s-vintage French GIAT F1, is very accurate out to 2 km range. It is generally considered to be inadequate for facing modern main battle tanks, but it is quite capable against armored personnel carriers or other lighter AFVs, unarmored vehicles, exposed infantry, and buildings or entrenchments. The 90 mm gun cannot be fired from a moving Ratel because the fire-control system is decidedly primitive and not stabilised; the turret and gun are manually traversed.
On the rare occasions when SADF Ratels encountered enemy armor, such as the Soviet-made tanks encountered in Operation Protea (1981) and Operations Modular, Hooper, and Packer in 1988, they achieved successes through maneuverability and only at very short ranges. The 61 Mechanised Infantry Battalion Group found that each enemy T-55 and T-62 required multiple shots from the 90 mm guns to disable it, and that the SADF vehicles had to attack in groups, fire from point-blank range, and hit the tanks in the engine vents, turret rim, or similar weak points in order to have an effect, the 90 mm shells being otherwise ineffective against the Soviet tanks' armour. For this reason, the SADF's Olifants tanks were considerably more effective against enemy armour than Ratels, Elands, or other vehicles.
Anti-tank missile
The anti-tank guided missile variant, the Ratel ZT-3, was originally equipped with the indigenously-developed ZT-3 heavy anti-tank missile, while the latest versions (ZT3-A2) is armed with the new 127 mm Ingwe (Leopard) anti-tank guided missile (ATGM). The Ratel ZT3 is basically a Ratel-20 with a different turret, which is fitted with a three-round missile launcher. Other missiles are carried within the hull.
The Ratel ZT-3 entered service in the late 1980s, in time for Operation Modular, and gave yeoman service against enemy armor at the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. The SADF was previously limited to the obsolete French-designed ENTAC wire-guided ATGM, which was usually transported in Land Rovers or other unarmored vehicles.
