What's wrong is the middle picture, it's showing a
Olifant Mk-1B there is no
Olifant Mk-2B in service so the issue is a
typo. A web search for the
Olifant Mk-2B will get you the
Olifant Mk-1B.
The pinnacle of the Olifant series lies in the
Olifant Mk-2 this model benefited from the
TDD demonstrator which was conceived to combat the heavier tanks that were appearing in Africa mainly the
T-72 variant's. The advantage here with the
Olifant Mk-2 is besides the current DENEL
105mm GT-7 MG, the turret is designed and
has been tested to also use the
105mm GT-8 and
LIW 120mm MG. Currently the
GT-7 MG is what's carried onboard the
MK-2 (Apparently the
Mk-1B has it now as well.) as this gun is quite capable of taking out any
T-72 currently operating in Africa.
Now should Ethiopia get pissed off with South Africa then you'll see them break out those 120mm MG's and mount them as they would more effective against the
T-90S tanks Ethiopia has.
It is my understanding that the remaining 18 (26 were converted to the Mk-2.)
Olifant Mk-1B turrets were also back fitted to carry the other two MG's as well, but I'm not ready to confirm that at this time.
The current tanks in service with
SADF are the
OLIFANT Mk-1A, Mk-1B and the Mk-2. Concerning the
Olifant Mk-1A, I again offer the previous ref. plus another from SADF showing it being involved in an exercise in
May 2017 pictured bottom right of that ref., notice the "
skirts" are missing for one.
http://www.army.mil.za/equipment/wea...ant_equipm.htm
http://www.army.mil.za/news/news_2017/feb_17/acd_17.htm
http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.ph...in-battle-tank
A word about the last website if you want to know what's going on in Africa you have to use this site they source from
JANE's, DID etc. plus do a lot of their own reporting as well.
Their breakdown as provided above on the
OLIFANT MBT is the
best I've seen so far on one site. I knew the
OLIFANT Mk-1A had a
mid-life upgrade done but wasn't sure when it occurred this ref. provided that date plus all that was done during it.
Gotta hit the rack!
Regards,
Pat
