Badger IFV
The Badger IFV is an 8-wheeled Infantry fighting vehicle designed by Denel Land Systems of South Africa. The Badger IFV is a modified and better protected version of the Finnish Patria AMV, tailored for South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and was modified for South African conditions. History The Badgers are intended to replace the South African Army's Ratel IFVs. Denel was selected to produce 264 Badgers under Project Hoefyster. The contract for the vehicles was signed in June 2007; at this time all were scheduled to be delivered by 2012. Project Hoefyster has been much-delayed, and as of August 2022 no Badgers had been delivered to the South African Army. The defenceWeb news service has reported that the delays are "largely due to state capture at Denel". In February 2022 Armscor recommended that Project Hoefyster be cancelled and the Ratels be upgraded instead of replaced. This was because the agency had judged that Denel lacked the staff needed to produce the Badgers, some of the vehicles' systems were obsolete and Denel was likely to lose money on the project. In July 2022 Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise stated that it was unlikely that any Badgers would be delivered. However, by August that year Armscor had changed its view, stating that Denel was now capable of delivering the Badgers if the company was provided with a range of assistance. Design The Badger uses a single turret developed by Denel that can be fitted with various weapons, The standard infantry carrier is armed with a 30 mm cannon and coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun. The Badger has a crew of three, a commander, gunner and driver and can carry 8 troops. Troops enter and leave the vehicle via rear doors, there are also roof hatches for observation, firing and emergency exit. The Badger is powered by a turbocharged Scania DI 12 540 hp engine and is fitted with a central tire inflation system and run-flat tires and has good mobility on rough terrain. Variants There are six variants of the Badger, of which five are armed, namely the Section variant (30 mm), Fire support variant (30 mm), Mortar variant (60 mm), Command variant (12.7 mm) and Missile variant (Ingwe). The Ambulance variant is not armed. Section variant The Section variant is armed with a Denel 30 mm dual-feed linkless Cam Gun (EMAK 30) which can engage targets up to 4000 metres when firing a single round at a time. Rapid-fire consists of 3-round bursts. The Section variant carries 400, 30 x 173mm rounds. The rear compartment of the Section variant has seating space for four passengers on the left and three passengers on the right. Fire support variant The Fire support variant carries the same main armament as the Section variant but has additional main armament ammunition which is kept in storage racks on the right-hand side of the passenger compartment. Seating in the passenger compartment is limited to two for use by a dedicated two man anti-tank team.