History UsefulNotes / SouthAfricansWithSurfaceToAirMissiles

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, Rimwards Howondaland is a resurgent former colony on the far tip of the continent. An expy of South Africa in UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra, it has two large and powerful Black Howondalandian neighbours and an undeclared border war is always going on ''somewhere''. usually in, er, ''[[MeaningfulName Smith-Rhodesia]]''. [[note]] Rimwards Howondaland is reluctantly supported by Ankh-Morpork, a state that deplores apartheid, but realises that its superpower rival Klatch is sponsoring the Black Howondalandian states on the other side. It becomes superpower rivalry by proxy, as in our world.[[/note]] In consequence its standing army is larger than usual, there is a massive pool of trained reservists who can be recalled very quickly, and its military structure is far more evolved and streamlined than most nations on the Disc, and it has some very good weapons indeed. Conscription of all able-bodied eighteen-to-twenty year olds for two years' National Service is part of the deal. In the tale ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12321109/1/Gap-Year-Adventures Gap Year Adventures]]'', the story opens with a group of White Howondalandians who have just graduated from the Assassins' School gloomily considering the next rite of passage is conscript military service. One who gets deferment for a year is eventually drafted and ends up in Twenty-Three Recruit Platoon, learning about her nation's army from the bottom up.

-->''"South Africa wants two, that's right\\

South Africans fought for Britain during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and their Air Force turned up in Korea (earning a US [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Air_Force#Korean_War Presidential Unit Citation]]).

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, Rimwards Howondaland is a resurgent former colony on the far tip of the continent. An expy of South Africa in TheApartheidEra, it has two large and powerful Black Howondalandian neighbours and an undeclared border war is always going on ''somewhere''. usually in, er, ''[[MeaningfulName Smith-Rhodesia]]''. [[note]] Rimwards Howondaland is reluctantly supported by Ankh-Morpork, a state that deplores apartheid, but realises that its superpower rival Klatch is sponsoring the Black Howondalandian states on the other side. It becomes superpower rivalry by proxy, as in our world.[[/note]] In consequence its standing army is larger than usual, there is a massive pool of trained reservists who can be recalled very quickly, and its military structure is far more evolved and streamlined than most nations on the Disc, and it has some very good weapons indeed. Conscription of all able-bodied eighteen-to-twenty year olds for two years' National Service is part of the deal. In the tale ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12321109/1/Gap-Year-Adventures Gap Year Adventures]]'', the story opens with a group of White Howondalandians who have just graduated from the Assassins' School gloomily considering the next rite of passage is conscript military service. One who gets deferment for a year is eventually drafted and ends up in Twenty-Three Recruit Platoon, learning about her nation's army from the bottom up.

* In ''BloodDiamond'', Danny Archer was a member and fought in Angola.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/300px-Atlas_Cheetah_3_(DanieVDM)_)crop.jpg

-->--Music/TomLehrer on South Africa's nuclear ambitions, from the song ''[[Quotes/IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles Who's Next?]]''.

* In the ''{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, Rimwards Howondaland is a resurgent former colony on the far tip of the continent. An expy of South Africa in TheApartheidEra, it has two large and powerful Black Howondalandian neighbours and an undeclared border war is always going on ''somewhere''. usually in, er, ''[[MeaningfulName Smith-Rhodesia]]''. [[note]] Rimwards Howondaland is reluctantly supported by Ankh-Morpork, a state that deplores apartheid, but realises that its superpower rival Klatch is sponsoring the Black Howondalandian states on the other side. It becomes superpower rivalry by proxy, as in our world.[[/note]] In consequence its standing army is larger than usual, there is a massive pool of trained reservists who can be recalled very quickly, and its military structure is far more evolved and streamlined than most nations on the Disc, and it has some very good weapons indeed. Conscription of all able-bodied eighteen-to-twenty year olds for two years' National Service is part of the deal. In the tale ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12321109/1/Gap-Year-Adventures Gap Year Adventures]]'', the story opens with a group of White Howondalandians who have just graduated from the Assassins' School gloomily considering the next rite of passage is conscript military service. One who gets deferment for a year is eventually drafted and ends up in Twenty-Three Recruit Platoon, learning about her nation's army from the bottom up.

South Africans fought for Britain during WorldWarOne and WorldWarTwo and their Air Force turned up in Korea (earning a US [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Air_Force#Korean_War Presidential Unit Citation]]).

* In the MLP fanfic ''TheConversionBureau: [[TheConversionBureauNotAlone Not Alone]]'', the South African military makes the biggest contribution in defeating the ponies, seeing how Equestria spawned near the Cape Town coastline. The city was destroyed by Equestria's advancing barrier.

* In the ''{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AApessimal, Rimwards Howondaland is a resurgent former colony on the far tip of the continent. an expy of South Africa in TheApartheidEra, it has two large and powerful Black Howondalandian neighbours and an undeclared border war is always going on ''somewhere''.[[note]] Rimwards Howondaland is reluctantly supported by Ankh-Morpork, a state that deplores apartheid, but realises that its superpower rival Klatch is sponsoring the Black Howondalandian states on the other side. It becomes superpower rivalry by proxy, as in our world.[[/note]] In consequence its standing army is larger than usual, there is a massive pool of trained reservists who can be recalled very quickly, and its military structure is far more evolved and streamlined than most nations on the Disc, and it has some very good weapons indeed. Conscription of all able-bodied eighteen-to-twenty year olds for two years' National Service is part of the deal. In the tale ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12321109/1/Gap-Year-Adventures Gap Year Adventures]]'', the story opens with a group of White Howondalandians who have just graduated from the Assassins' School gloomily considering the next rite of passage is conscript military service. One who gets deferment for a year is eventually drafted and ends up in Twenty-Three Recruit Platoon, learning about her nation's army from the bottom up.

South Africa's military is an interesting one, primarily because of TheApartheidEra and their contribution to other wars.

During TheApartheidEra, the South Africans fought a border war with Angola (and unsuccessfully tried to stop Namibia, ex-German South West Africa, from gaining independence) against Marxist guerrillas- a reason why the US and UK were reluctant to challenge the regime too closely. Their main allies in Angola were the pro-West (but anti-colonialist) independence group [[http://www.unitaangola.org/ UNITA]]. Their enemies were the Communist-backed MPLA, along with soldiers from Cuba and the Soviet Union. While in Angola, the South Africans did quite well, but they eventually withdrew when reinforcements were needed for homeland defense.

Also during TheApartheidEra, South Africa was a nuclear state. The rationale was, while it was nominally allied to the West in the Cold War, it had Soviet-leaning neighbors who had no complicated embargo issues hindering their military development. Also, South Africa has a great deal of uranium. Also - in a strictly unofficial capacity - South Africa and Israel, the wild children of the non-communist world, entered into a technical-expertise-for-uranium trade relationship. And finally also, at the end of the '80s South Africa magnanimously destroyed their entire six-nuke arsenal and signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The fact that the Apartheid administration was going to have to give way to the black majority in the near future was, of course, entirely coincidental (given Mandela's strong anti-nuclear stance as president, it's doubtful he would have minded).

-->--TomLehrer on South Africa's nuclear ambitions, from the song ''[[Quotes/IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles Who's Next?]]''.

* In ''Film/District9'' the South African-staffed PMC hired to deal with aliens over Johannesburg actually uses Surface-to-Air Missiles near the end of the movie.

* ''GravitysRainbow'' features the [[GratuitousGerman Schwarzcommandos]] - A group of Hereros who have been brought to Germany by Nazis and trained as rocket technicians.
* In ''District 9'' the South African-staffed PMC hired to deal with aliens over Johannesburg actually uses Surface-to-Air Missiles near the end of the movie.

* Larry Bond's ''Vortex'' features a South African invasion of Namibia after hardliners seize power from reformers within the government.
* In the MLP fanfic ''TheConversionBureau: [[TheConversionBureauNotAlone Not Alone]]'', the South African military makes the biggest contribution in defeating the ponies, seeing how Equestria spawned near the Cape Town coastline. The city was destroyed by Equestria's advancing barrier.

* Barrett Tillman's 1992 novel ''TheSixthBattle'' features an invasion of South Africa by neighboring states backed by a [[MakeTheBearAngryAgain resurgent Soviet Union in all but name]].

* WarriorOfLoveRainbowman has the EliteMooks of the BigBad in the third arc being South African mercenaries equipped with machine guns and fighter jets.

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<<|UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica|>>
<<|ForcesWithFirepower|>>

Also during TheApartheidEra, South Africa was a nuclear state. The rationale was, while it was nominally allied to the West in the Cold War, it had Soviet-leaning neighbors who had no complicated embargo issues hindering their military development. Also, South Africa has a great deal of uranium. Also - in a strictly unofficial capacity - South Africa and Israel, the wild children of the non-communist world, entered into a technical-expertise-for-uranium trade relationship. And finally also, at the end of the 80s South Africa magnanimously destroyed their entire six-nuke arsenal and signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The fact that the Apartheid administration was going to have to give way to the black majority in the near future was, of course, entirely coincidental (given Mandela's strong anti-nuclear stance as president, it's doubtful he would have minded).

* ''[[VideoGame/GraviteamTactics Graviteam Tactics: Operation Hooper]]'' allows you to play as the 61 Mechanised Battalion Group and two UNITA infantry battalions during the late February battles for Cuito Cuanavale.
** Their tank game ''Steel Armor: Blaze of War'' has the South Africans along with their UNITA allies as the enemies in the 1988 Operation Hooper campaign.

Also during TheApartheidEra, South Africa was a nuclear state. The rationale was, while it was nominally allied to the West in the Cold War, it had Soviet-leaning neighbors who had no complicated embargo issues hindering their military development. Also, South Africa has a great deal of uranium. Also - in a strictly unofficial capacity - South Africa and Israel, the wild children of the non-communist world, entered into a technical-expertise-for-uranium trade relationship. And finally also, at the end of the 80s South Africa magnanimously destroyed their entire six-nuke arsenal and signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The fact that the Apartheid administration was going to have to give way to the black majority in the near future was, of course, entirely coincidental.

* The ''[[VideoGame/GraviteamTactics Graviteam Tactics: Operation Hooper]]'' allows you to play as the 61 Mechanised Battalion Group and two UNITA infantry battalions during the late February battles for Cuito Cuanavale.

* The ''Videogame/GraviteamTactics: Operation Hooper'' campaign allows you to play as the 61 Mechanised Battalion Group and two UNITA infantry battalions during the late February battles for Cuito Cuanavale.

* The game ''Steel Armor: Blaze of War'' has the South Africans along with their UNITA allies as the enemies in the 1988 Operation Hooper campaign.

* The ''Videogame/GraviteamTactics: Operation Hooper'' campaign allows you to play as the 61 Mechanised Battalion Group during the Battle for Cuito Cuanavale.

-->--TomLehrer on South Africa's nuclear ambitions, from the song ''Who's Next?''.

Unique to other militaries, South Africa had a fourth separate branch called the South African Military Health Service. They are mainly the [[CombatMedic combat medics]] of the armed forces.

-->--TomLehrer on South Africa's nuclear ambitions, from the song ''[[ArabIsraeliConflict Who's Next?]]''.

* The game ''Steel Armor: Blaze of War'' has the South Africans along with their UNITA allies as the enemies in the 1988 Cuanavale campaign.