Portal:Military history of Africa/equipment

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Equipment

The Mokopa is a South African air-to-ground missile, designed primarily for use as an anti-tank weapon. It is currently in its final stages of development, and is being integrated onto the South African Air Force's Rooivalk attack helicopters. The missile is produced by Denel Aerospace Systems, formerly Kentron. The current version utilises Semi-Active Laser (SAL) guidance, requiring the target to be illuminated by a laser designator either on the launch platform or elsewhere; though there are alternative guidance packages available including a millimetre-wave radar (MMW) seeker and a two-colour imaging infrared (IIR) seeker.

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The P-15 Termit (Russian: П-15 "Термит"; English: termite) was a type of missile developed by the Soviet Union's Raduga design bureau in the 1950s. Its GRAU designation was "4K40", and its NATO reporting name was Styx or SS-N-2.

Soviet-made P-15 missiles were used by Egypt against Israel in 1967 where Egyptian Komar class fast-attack craft (FAC) sank the Israeli destroyer Eilat. It is also used by Algeria, Angola, Libya and Somalia.

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The Alouette II is a light helicopter originally manufactured by Sud Aviation and later Aérospatiale of France. The Alouette II is the first helicopter to use a gas turbine instead of a conventional heavier piston engine.

It was mostly used for military purposes in observation, photography, air/sea rescue, liaison and training but it has also carried anti-tank missiles and homing torpedoes. As a civilian helicopter it was put to use as a casualty evacuation (with two external stretcher panniers), crop-spraying and flying crane (with a 500kg external sling load).

Alouette II is used by Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Morocco, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia.

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The Dassault Mirage F1 is a single-seat air-superiority fighter and attack aircraft built by Dassault Aviation of France.

Dassault designed the Mirage F1 as the successor to its Mirage III and Mirage 5 fighters. Unlike its predecessors, it has a swept wing mounted high on the fuselage, as well as a conventional tail surface.

The first prototype, which was developed by Dassault using its own funds, made its maiden flight on 23 December 1966.

Mirage F1 is used by Libya (38 units) and Morocco (50 units).

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The Bateleur (named for an African eagle) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) prototype designed and built by Denel Aerospace Systems of South Africa (formerly Kentron). It has been designed as a MALE (Medium-Altitude - Long Endurance) UAV, with its primary role being surveillance, with a secondary SIGINT capability.

Development began at the beginning of 2004 as a totally in-house and private-venture project, being developed with internal company funds. The first prototype is expected to fly in early 2006.

The entire aircraft is constructed using a modular construction system, making adapting the airframe in future to increase the range or fit larger payloads much easier than with a rigid airframe. It also makes it possible for the aircraft, once disassembled, to fit inside a 6 m ISO shipping container.

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