Combat buses … If today there was a competition for the most terrible armored car in history, the Buffel, created by South African designers, would definitely compete in it for first place. Formally, this "Buffalo" from South Africa belongs to the class of MRAP - armored wheeled vehicles with mine protection. But in fact, in the 1970s-1980s, it was used by the South African military as an armored personnel carrier. Fortunately, the car could safely transport up to 10 paratroopers in an armored body, which also makes it easy to include this sample of armored vehicles in the series of articles "Combat buses".
The creation of the Buffel armored vehicle
Speaking about wheeled armored vehicles of South Africa, it is necessary to touch upon the country's prehistory. For a long time, including after the end of World War II, the main supplier of weapons for the then South African Union (the Union of South Africa, the name of the country until 1961) was Great Britain, which was quite logical. Thus, throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the main armored personnel carrier of the South American Army was the British "Saracen". However, the deterioration of relations with Britain, the policy of apartheid, the formation in 1961 of an independent South African Republic, which seceded from the Commonwealth, led to a cooling of relations between London and the former dominion.
South Africa had to quickly look for other suppliers of weapons, as well as develop its own military industry. Even then, in the 1960s, the focus was primarily on wheeled vehicles. At the same time, wheeled armored vehicles were not only easier to manufacture, the theater of military operations, abounding in desert off-road and sandy terrain, played a much larger role. The country needed combat vehicles capable of effectively operating in arid off-road conditions. The sandy landscape made it necessary to abandon the tracked chassis, which quickly wore out in such conditions. The stake was made on wheeled vehicles with high tactical mobility, maneuverability, speed, ease of maintenance and transportation on the terrain, which was extremely poor on the railway. Under these conditions, South Africa created the world's first wheeled BMP Ratel, as well as a large number of wheeled armored personnel carriers and MRAPs, which still remain the hallmark of the state on the world arms market.
The development of new armored vehicles was seriously pushed by a major military conflict that went down in history as the South African Border War. The fighting took place mainly in Angola and Namibia and lasted from 1966 to 1989. The fighting was accompanied by the widespread use of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, as well as various improvised explosive devices, which pushed the South African military to create special armored vehicles, well protected from mine explosions. The widespread use of mines was due to the fact that the opponents of South Africa chose the guerrilla nature of hostilities more suitable for them, since it was extremely difficult to resist the regular army in open combat. At the same time, the real headache for the South African military was the Soviet TM-57 mines (anti-tank mine with 6.5 kg of explosive), which were massively installed by the rebels on the roads.
The new Buffel combat vehicle, commissioned by the ARMSCOR corporation in the 1970s, was a response to the challenges of the times and the threats that the representatives of the South African army and police constantly faced. The vehicle with a 4x4 wheel arrangement was built in a short time to meet the requirements of the Ministry of Defense for an armored personnel carrier with mine protection. The combat vehicle was planned to be sent to the armament of army units, primarily the infantry. In total, about 2, 4 thousand of such combat vehicles were produced during production, which were also supplied for export. For example, to Sri Lanka and Uganda. It is known that in the Sri Lankan army, such combat vehicles and their modernized versions are still in service, and in South Africa, by 1995, they gave way to more advanced technology - the Mamba family of wheeled armored vehicles.
The new armored car, produced by the ARMSCOR corporation, got its sonorous name Buffel (in the language of the Boers) in honor of the African buffalo, an animal, despite its herbivorousness, quite ferocious and even more terrible than a lion. At the same time, the armored personnel carrier itself also had a distant resemblance to a buffalo. In fact, it was "Buffalo" that became the first successful armored vehicle, which began to be widely used by numerous army patrols. One of the main requirements of the military for the new car was protection against detonation on the TM-57 anti-tank mine or its equivalent, detonated under the car anywhere, as well as protection against detonation of two such mines under any of the wheels. And the designers from South Africa coped with this task.
Technical features of the South African "Buffalo"
When creating a new armored vehicle, the designers took the chassis of an all-wheel drive truck as a basis for creating a new armored vehicle - a fairly common solution. Fortunately, a suitable copy was available - it was an all-wheel drive Mercedes-Unimog model 416/162. The use of the time-tested chassis not only positively affected the reliability and durability of the unusual armored personnel carrier, but also provided the car with good tactical and technical characteristics, primarily mobility. It was also important that one of the variants of an anti-mine truck had already been created on the Unimog chassis, which received the designation Boshvark and was released in a small series of several dozen units.
The layout of the new armored vehicle, designed to carry 10 soldiers, was as follows. A diesel engine was located in the front. The driver sat higher and was located on the left side of the power plant. His workplace was located in a cockpit covered with armor, which was equipped with thick bulletproof glass on the front and sides. The cockpit had one small door, as well as a hatch in the roof of the hull, which was either solid or double-leaf and could also be used for evacuation from a combat vehicle. To the right of the engine compartment, most armored vehicles usually had a spare wheel. An armored body was installed directly behind the driver's cab - it was also an open-top troop compartment. The body itself was made of steel armor plates by welding.
The troop compartment on the first versions of the armored vehicle was open, while 10 soldiers with full equipment could easily accommodate in it. The soldiers sat with their backs to each other facing the sides of the corps. Each of the seats was equipped with seat belts and was designed to absorb as much energy as possible in the event of a mine or IED detonation. On the first models with an open body, the designers placed a long longitudinal tube above the seats, which was supposed to protect the landing in the event of a coup of the combat vehicle, and could also serve as a handrail. An unfortunate decision could be attributed to the method of disembarkation / landing. The first armored personnel carriers could only leave the sides of the hull, on which special steps were located.
Since the main mission of the vehicle was to protect the crew and troops from being blown up, the designers from South Africa applied a number of solutions that are characteristic of all MRAPs today. To disperse the shock wave during an explosion, the armored body in the lower part received a V-shape, which today is the hallmark of almost all armored vehicles with mine protection. The second noticeable feature of the armored vehicle was the high ground clearance, and as a result, the high height - 2.95 meters. High ground clearance was also a necessary element of mine action design, since the effectiveness of the blast wave decreases with increasing distance traveled. Some sources claim that additional protection against detonation was provided by 500 liters of water, which could be poured into each of the wheels.
The main emphasis in the development was placed on protection against mines, while the hull withstood shelling from small arms and small fragments of shells and mines. For the conditions of a partisan war, this was enough, besides, machine guns were often the heaviest weapons at the disposal of numerous insurgents and fighters of the liberation fronts. The combat weight of the vehicle did not exceed 6, 14 tons. The maximum length of the armored personnel carrier was 5.1 meters, width - 2.05 meters, height - 2.95 meters. The height created additional problems with the stability of the improvised armored personnel carrier and its visibility on the ground. However, the last factor did not play such a big role in the African theater of operations, where it was difficult to hide somewhere in the savanna, smooth as a table, but from a high object there was a better view, so the enemy could be detected earlier.
The first models were powered by the original Mercedes-Benz OM352 6-cylinder diesel engines, which were later replaced with copies of South African production. The engine was paired with a gearbox providing the armored vehicle with 8 forward speeds and 4 reverse speeds. The engine has a maximum power of approximately 125 hp. provided the combat vehicle with good speed characteristics. On the highway, such an armored personnel carrier accelerated to 96 km / h, and on rough terrain outside the roads it could move at speeds up to 30 km / h. A 200-liter diesel tank located under the troop compartment was adjacent to a 100-liter water tank, which was vital for fighting in the African theater of operations. The car had enough fuel to cover up to 1000 km on the highway, which was an excellent indicator.
Most of the Buffaloes did not have any weapons, but 5, 56 or 7, 62 mm machine guns were installed on some of the vehicles. On some versions, it was possible to see coaxial machine-gun installations, covered with armored shields. Heavier weapons were missing.
Buffel armored car upgrades
Quite quickly, the designers prepared two upgrades of the vehicle: Buffel Mk IA and Mk IB. The first model featured an improved engine and a redesigned bumper. On the second model, instead of drum brakes, more advanced disc brakes appeared. At the same time, the designers and the military quickly realized that the option of leaving the combat vehicle through the sides of the hull was not the most ideal. And this is also, to put it mildly, since the soldiers had to descend under enemy fire from almost a three-meter height.
This serious flaw was corrected in the Buffel Mk II modification, which received a fully enclosed troop compartment with a roof in which the locking hatches were located. In this case, the main method of embarkation and disembarkation on this model was the door located in the aft armor plate of the hull. Also, on the basis of this model, an armored cargo carrier was produced, from the body of which all the seats were dismantled. Such a truck could easily carry up to 2.6 tons of various cargo, and was also used as a tractor for light weapons.
