GT Series Cannon
| File:Olifant tank2.JPG Olifant Mk.1 (could be a Centurion Mk.5) Tank at South Africa Armor Museum with its GT-1 cannon visible, taken by Katangais | |
| Primarily used by: South African National Defence Force, South African Defence Force |
The GT Series is a designation given to a series of tank cannons either produced domestically by South Africa or to foreign procured tank cannons in South African inventory.
History
GT-1
The GT-1 cannon was a designation given to British 20 pounder rifled guns that were in South African inventory. It was a 84mm cannon that would be placed on the Olifant Mk.1 that could fire an Armour-Piercing Discarding Sabot shell which had roughly 285 mm to 290 mm of rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) pen.[1][2]
GT-2
The GT-2 Cannon was a domestically produced, licensed copy of the French GIAT F1 90mm gun, which was used on the AML-90 police armored cars. When South Africa acquired AML-90s from France in 1962–1963, they upgraded the AML to the Eland which used the GT-2, the GT-2 played a big role for the SADF during the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War as it could punch right through enemy T-34 and T-54 tanks, although it did sometimes struggle against the T-55 with it having 320mm of Penetration against RHA with its HEAT-FS shell.[3][4]
GT-3
During the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War, South Africa was under an arms embargo and noticed that although the Soviet derived T-55 tanks they were facing could be destroyed by the GT-2, this did not occur consistently and instead the T-55s could easily destroy the Eland armored cars and Ratel IFVs, so in turn Lyttelton Engineering Works in the late 1970s began taking the Centurion stockpile they had left from the British Union Of South Africa and re-engineered the 105mm L7 Guns they got from Israel and upgraded it to be domestically produced, this led to the GT-3 which would be put on the Olifant Mk.1A tanks that entered service in 1985 to counter the T-55 threat, it would later be tested on the TTD tank, the Olifant Mk.1B and Mk.2 tanks would use an upgraded version under the name of GT-3B.[5][6][1][7] The GT-3 from 1987 used the Israeli M111 APFSDS-T Shell which had roughly 390 mm to 420 mm of pen against RHA and the GT-3B used the Israeli IMI M426 shell otherwise known as the DM63 which had roughly 440 mm to 460 mm RHA penetration (at 0° vertical) Up to 530 mm–580 mm line-of-sight against angled armor.[8]
GT-4
South Africa also relied heavily on the Eland armored cars during Border War and Angolan Civil War, this presented issues when faced with Soviet derived MBTs, so they began development on the GT-4. The first iterations of the GT-4 used 77mm Mk 2 guns from Comet tanks as a baseline but were rejected in 1979. The program was then revived in 1982 with the naval solution of the Oto Melara 76 Compact Naval Gun which was already used in the South African Navy. The Oto Melara was engineered into a manual loaded gun meant to be used on tanks as a 76mm rifled tank gun, this led to the GT-4 which was most prominently used on the Rooikat and is still being used on the Rooikat as of 2026. The GT-4s main APFSDS-T shell is confirmed to be able to penetrate 275mm of RHA as can be found on the T-62 tank.[9][10][11][12]
GT-6
The GT-6 Cannon, developed soon after the GT-3 entered service in the mid-late 1980s, was a next generation 120mm cannon which had a modular design allowing it to be switched out from a 120mm gun to a 140mm gun and was originally meant for the Loggim Tank but was canceled (sometime before the Loggim Program itself was cancelled) as it was too complex and oversized for its original use of being a tactical, mass produceable cannon for the TTD. However, lessons learned during the development of the GT-6 did help in the development of the GT-9 and GT-12 later on. The GT-6 cannon was designed to fire NATO 120mm and 140mm ammunition.[13][14]
GT-7
The GT-7 started development in the early 1990s as an upgrade for the Rooikat from a 76mm gun to a 105mm gun for international export, it used the british L7 gun as its basis and since it was being used for a strictly light chassis it needed to be lightweight and low-recoil. It was placed on a Rooikat under the name of Rooikat 105 and performed well in tests however the post-Cold War defense market produced a lack of customers resulting in no further development by the South African Defence Force. The GT-7 was later repurposed by Denel for the development of the T7 remote combat turret and is used on the Olifant Mk.2. The GT-7 cannon fired M9718 shells designed by Denel made to have a penetration of 450 mm RHA at a maximum combat range of 3 km.[15][9][16][17][18]
GT-8
The GT-8 was a 105mm cannon that was developed by Denel and it was tested on the Olifant Mk.1B Optimum but it never entered production.[19][20]
GT-9
The GT-9 began development in the early 1990s and was intended to rectify issues with the GT-6 design. It was a much lighter 120mm cannon designed for being produced on a larger scale than the GT-6 and was designed for fast and tactical deployment on tanks, although this had the cost of losing its modular capability. It was canceled around 1994 when South Africa's arms embargo was lifted and the defense budget of the SADF was cut, however lessons learned in development would play a role in developing the GT-12 cannon. The GT-9 remains somewhat classified and used current NATO shells, therefore the level of armor penetration is unknown.[21]
GT-12
The GT-12 was a 120mm low-recoil, smoothbore, lightweight tank cannon developed from the legacy of the GT-6 and GT-9, unlike the GT-6 and GT-9, it wasn't designed for MBTs but rather lighter vehicles such as the Rooikat. The GT-12 could fire NATO standard 120mm ammunition such as those from the German Leopard 2 MBT. It was planned to be used on a "Rooikat 120" however the design did not progress past testing. Like the GT-9 this design has not yet been fully declassified and uses current NATO shells, therefore its level of armor penetration is also unknown.[21][15]
Operators
Former Operators
- Template:Country data South West Africa South West African Territorial Forces, Branch of the SADF which used Eland-90s and Ratel-90s with GT-2 Cannons.[22]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Development of the Elephant Mk.1 (Olifant Mk.1)" (PDF). VEG (5).
- ↑ "Development of the Centurion Mk.5 and Skokiaan Mk.1" (PDF). VEG (3).
- ↑ South African arms & armour: a concise guide to armaments of the South African army, navy, and air force. Struik Publishers. ISBN 0869776371. Search this book on
- ↑ Harmse, Kyle; Dunstan, Simon (23 February 2017). South African Armour of the Border War 1975–89. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 5–9, 31. ISBN 978-1472817433. Search this book on
- ↑ Ogorkiewicz, Richard (2015). Tanks: 100 Years of Evolution. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. pp. 222–223. ISBN 978-1-4728-0670-3. Search this book on
- ↑ "Advance technology". SALUT Magazine (October ed.). ISSN 1022-0771.
- ↑ "Development of the Olifant Mk.1B and Mk.2" (PDF). VEG (8).
- ↑ Engelbrecht, Leon (2008-10-13). "Fact file: Olifant main battle tank - DefenceWeb". Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Rooikat". man.fas.org. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
- ↑ defenceWeb (2011-08-18). "R96.8m for Olifant, Rooikat ammo - DefenceWeb". Retrieved 2026-09-22.
- ↑ "Lesakeng". South African Armour Museum. 6 December 2012. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Jane's Armour and Artillery, 2001–2002, Volume 23, pp. 244-345.
- ↑ 1994. PARATUS: LEW smooth-bore gun for the Tank Technology Demonstrator. ISSN 0031-1839. Search this book on
- ↑ "Tank Technology Demonstrator". sa-armour-museum. Retrieved 2026-08-20.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Medium Turret Technology Demonstrator". sa-armour-museum. Retrieved 2026-10-28.
- ↑ "Lesakeng". South African Armour Museum. 6 December 2012. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Denel Overview of the Rooikat 105" (PDF). Denel Land Systems.
- ↑ Engelbrecht, Leon (2010-01-21). "Fact file: The Olifant main battle tank - DefenceWeb". Retrieved 2026-11-03.
- ↑ Engelbrecht, Leon (2010-01-21). "Fact file: The Olifant main battle tank - DefenceWeb". Retrieved 2026-09-22.
- ↑ "Olifant 2 Combat Turret" pamphlet". Lyttleton Engineering Works.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 "The SAAF Forum • View topic - Olifant 120mm gun". www.saairforce.co.za. Retrieved 2026-09-22.
- ↑ "Eland 90 Mk7". sa-armour-museum. Retrieved 2026-09-23.
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