Graugrun
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Unknown to many is that South Africa was one of the early (modern day) pioneers of RPV's/UAV's/Drones in terms of military use, later in 1994 we were the first to use them in commercial airspace for civilian purposes (monitoring the first open general elections). Early history on development is difficult to find, however this thread will hopefully uncover some of it and the associated developments.
The first known prototype was developed by the South African CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) in 1977 and delivered to the SAAF (South African Air Force) in 1978. Known as the Champion (McCullagh 101) it was a technology demonstrator and trainer (and naturally to develop UAV know-how/doctrine etc). Four Champions were built, including a pre-production prototype (although with only 4 built, they were all pretty much prototypes). Some of these Champion UAV's were supplied to Rhodesia for use in their bush-war (most likely operated by South Africans)
It seems then that some interaction with Chile followed, then shortly after that with Israel, from which we bought 5 x IAI Scout UAV's - named 'Cobalt' in SAAF service (some say 13). Shortly thereafter we developed our own Kentron Seeker 2B and later 2C UAV's. We started using them operationally during our own Bush-War in Angola and SWA/Namibia. and some of the mentioned incidents include use during Operation 'Askari', a raid deep into Angola starting in late 1983, going into early 1994 (in which one UAV was lost). Also in 1983 a UAV was lost over Mozambique after it was shot down by a Soviet SA-3 missile, after quite a few SA-3 missile had already been fired at it, it was busy doing post strike damage assessment on a raid by 4 X Impala MK2 light strike aircraft, as a reprisal for the Church Street bombing in Pretoria.
Various use must have been made during the following years after 1983, however the next open mention was during the 1987-88 raids into Angola (Operations Modular/Hooper/Packer) in which extensive use was made of UAV's for surveillance, reconnaissance, artillery spotting and more interestingly to lure Soviet SAM batteries out of hiding so that our long range G-5/6 guns could hit them. Two Kentron Seeker systems were lost to the last mentioned tactic, although it was apparently more than worth it - many expensive SAM-8/9/13 were fired attempting to shoot the Seeker's down, in doing so not only did they waste valuable ammunition - but also revealed their positions and many of their Soviet SAM sites were then promptly destroyed by G-5/6 artillery fire (apparently one Seeker survived between 16-17 SAM-8 missiles being fired at it before it was finally shot down).
Various UAV developments followed, mostly held back by funding issues - quite a few Seeker systems were sold internationally, with the latest development being the armed Seeker 400.
Below is a pic from Steven McLean's excellent book "Squadrons of the South African Airforce and their aircraft 1920-2005" At bottom left with the red 'dayglo' stripes and 019 serial number is the Champion UAV, the early Seeker 2B is at top left, the later Seeker 2C at top right and the IAI Scout (Cobalt) is at bottom right.
BTW - this is one of the only pictures I have ever seen of the Champion UAV.
The first known prototype was developed by the South African CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) in 1977 and delivered to the SAAF (South African Air Force) in 1978. Known as the Champion (McCullagh 101) it was a technology demonstrator and trainer (and naturally to develop UAV know-how/doctrine etc). Four Champions were built, including a pre-production prototype (although with only 4 built, they were all pretty much prototypes). Some of these Champion UAV's were supplied to Rhodesia for use in their bush-war (most likely operated by South Africans)
It seems then that some interaction with Chile followed, then shortly after that with Israel, from which we bought 5 x IAI Scout UAV's - named 'Cobalt' in SAAF service (some say 13). Shortly thereafter we developed our own Kentron Seeker 2B and later 2C UAV's. We started using them operationally during our own Bush-War in Angola and SWA/Namibia. and some of the mentioned incidents include use during Operation 'Askari', a raid deep into Angola starting in late 1983, going into early 1994 (in which one UAV was lost). Also in 1983 a UAV was lost over Mozambique after it was shot down by a Soviet SA-3 missile, after quite a few SA-3 missile had already been fired at it, it was busy doing post strike damage assessment on a raid by 4 X Impala MK2 light strike aircraft, as a reprisal for the Church Street bombing in Pretoria.
Various use must have been made during the following years after 1983, however the next open mention was during the 1987-88 raids into Angola (Operations Modular/Hooper/Packer) in which extensive use was made of UAV's for surveillance, reconnaissance, artillery spotting and more interestingly to lure Soviet SAM batteries out of hiding so that our long range G-5/6 guns could hit them. Two Kentron Seeker systems were lost to the last mentioned tactic, although it was apparently more than worth it - many expensive SAM-8/9/13 were fired attempting to shoot the Seeker's down, in doing so not only did they waste valuable ammunition - but also revealed their positions and many of their Soviet SAM sites were then promptly destroyed by G-5/6 artillery fire (apparently one Seeker survived between 16-17 SAM-8 missiles being fired at it before it was finally shot down).
Various UAV developments followed, mostly held back by funding issues - quite a few Seeker systems were sold internationally, with the latest development being the armed Seeker 400.
Below is a pic from Steven McLean's excellent book "Squadrons of the South African Airforce and their aircraft 1920-2005" At bottom left with the red 'dayglo' stripes and 019 serial number is the Champion UAV, the early Seeker 2B is at top left, the later Seeker 2C at top right and the IAI Scout (Cobalt) is at bottom right.
BTW - this is one of the only pictures I have ever seen of the Champion UAV.
