Thank you very much for this homeage to our beloved Rooivalk and the people involved. I am proud to have been involved in the manufacturing and operation of it. One day...I hope...she will really show all the world what can be done when the whole world leaves you in the dark.
well.....an airshow won't do much good.... she is a war machine, designed to do war. No need to start a war....everywhere is some conflict of some way or the other.
In SA we say “‘n Boer Maak ‘n Plan” loosely translated meaning a Farmer Makes a Plan. When we needed something and did not have it we made it, and in making it we did it extremely well.
Goodness me, what a small world! My late father was also involved in the manufacturing process of the Rooivalk. He helped make that helmet with the awesome retina target system (whatever it is called). I also got a part time job where my father was working and we saw them testing the gun turrets. I first saw the helicopter in action at an army expo in Midrand and was really blown away. Perhaps you knew my father? His name was Arthur Harold Snell and worked for IST in Pretoria.
My dad was on the development team at Denel (Kentron back then). His team developed the helmet tracking system, wherein the position of the pilot's eye as well as his head orientation was measured in order to take measurements or aim weapons to whatever he was looking at. A bunch of world-class systems in this machine, all grown on home soil ☺️
My uncle worked for Atlas at that time and he was responsible for the fuel system design if memory serves me right. He was also involved in the Turkish TAI TF Kaan project. It's nice to hear from other folks that had family involved in the Rooivalk project.
Fun fact my dad served with the SA army he is a lt col now and told me that we south africans actually came up with the idea of the helmet display where the 20 mm cannon follows your direction that you are looking at but was first achieved by the Americans
My dad worked on the helmet too, and I believe on the telemetry systems of the Rooivalk, and parts of the missile tracking systems - something along those lines. I'm sure he must know yuor dad. His name is Jorge Rodriguez. I've got vague memories of him bringing the helmet home one day to work on it. I think they had used the tiny CRT monitor from a video camera in the helmet, at least in the prototype phase.
In 1946 the Sikorsky R5 also were able to do a loop and barrel roll. That not much of a achievement. Now the M23 in DRC are supported by a couple of Norinco WZ551 6×6 IFV mobile SAM system, for that reason the soldiers operating there have no air support. If you search "Rwanda Air Defense shoot down DRC Su 27" you will get a video of a missile just missing the frogfoot.... and that thing was moving fast. Just think what it will do against a slow moving helicopter. But yes agree it was much better doing operations knowing the Rooivalk is in area. The Mi24's that was also in the UN Mission can not give the same type of close fire support.
My old man did the communications for the Rooivalk and my uncle was Project manager for the Maurader armoured vehicle. Some amazing military equipment still being made in SA today. I got to climb around in the Rooivalk as a youngster 😊
Sorry bru . South Africa is not making any amazing anything .. .. we don't have electricity, no water and no jobs.. in order to make amazing things you need the white man. . and we leaving finally.. can't do business with no electricity 😂😂😂
@@troothhertz6297 Wait brother, with energy independence at over 6GW for the private sector in operation and big companies being able to manufacture again.. SA is primed for massive growth. Its not just pie in the sky hopes and dreams anymore, it's just that it's not common knowledge for the everyday Joe. I'm energy independent, water independent via a borehole and sewage/waste water via a sewage plant for the home. All in, cost around R600k. would be half that if I had the time to diy. I've been saying this for years but I'll say it again for you specifically, gtfo of the cities and get cheap gridless agri land.
@@michaelnuttall5896 I am going off grid to.. and I do know of IPP projets coming up. Rustenburg first to do waste to energy from its landfill sites and municipality waste will deliver 200 mW. So yes let's be hopeful an DA and ANC join hands to put SA on the right path
Proud enough to say that have sat in and been around this beatiful creation. Did my final year university project on the night vision goggles used by these pilots and how it affects vision, and whether could be used by low vision patients as a visual aid in real world setting. 16 squadron is based just outside Bloemfontein. Went to the airbase, met and tested all the pilots and was lucky enough to be invited to see and sit in the helicopters. Also got invited to night time viewing with the night vision goggles and systems. Also one of the few helicopters that can do a "loop" and fly upside down for a short while. Awesome
A mate of mine flew the Rooivalk for years. Used to love listening to his stories of combat in the previous helicopters and how much that would have changed if they had the rooivalk earlier.
'Valk' translates into Hawk in English. The SA arms industry was always focused on domestic consumption, not export. The Rooivalk & other SA armaments are of such high quality, robust engineering & highly competitive in price that they would do very well on the international market, especially in countries of the Global South, if SA's arms industry became export oriented.
We tried to sell some to Turkey but the bid failed they went with an Italian design but I'm not sure if Turkey went through with it afterall.. so far as I know nothing has been delivered outside Italy I think Italy is still waiting on the last batch to be delivered for its own airforce...anyway at the moment of the 11 Rooivalk attack helicopters in service, only two are currently operable we have fallen behind on maintenance denel is over burdened by repair orders and is either under staffed or underfunded probably both
@@SteveWarlee rooivalk was actually a cost saving measure it allowed the SANDF to reduce the amount of tanks and airdefences we need to keep on standby
This is genuinely a brilliant helicopter in the game. Fastest hellfire type missiles, wonderful agility, decent A2A along with its pretty solid cannon, and built in MAWS.. Yeah, though it's a premium, it's well worth its value!
Many excellent machines in the old SADF ; The Samil truck series ( 20, 50, 100 and armoured version) were made out of 10 different trucks, The Buffel design, ( mounted on a Mercedes Unimog) The Ratel ( SA design) with a V12 Rolls Rolls enjin, The AA 35mm canon with Porsche generators The G5,6, Canons among few...and it was well maintained....
I went on a school trip where i receive a poster with its inner compartments and a briefing on its abilites. I also saw it in airshows where it demonstrated it's abilities. It has helmet mounted gun tracking sites, could do 360s, silent running and has the ability to move on the ground to surprise aa and tanks. It also has the ability to pull 45+ deg back with its nose pointing down and fire a massive volly, it has a gimbiling rotor system that keeps the blades at a level angle. And I believe it has ejection.
I saw the Rooivalk in action at a military hardware expo in Midrand somewhere back in mid 1990s also. It does have ejection capabilities and many other advanced features.
yay! Rooivalk! So happy my country made this and that it's in game! Edit:please add South African aircraft to the game Gaijin. Edit 2: to get Gaijin to add South African aircraft, we shall spam in the comment section of every new video "add South African aircraft". As always, best way to get what you want from Gaijin is to bully them XD.
An attack helicopter, the South African counterpart of the Apache that is just very pure good. 16 of those air-to-surface missiles, a 20mm cannon and can do maneuvers that are a just like the other helicopters with only 12 produced? Now that's hard work.
Thank you for this video on the South African Rooivalk attack helicopter. The name Rooivalk is the Afrikaans name for the Rock Kestrel, bird of prey. This Kestrel uses the unique hover and attack approach to hunt its prey. The helicopter was developed and built by Armscor at its subsidiaries Atlas whilst Kentron was responsible for the missiles & rocket development as well as the helmet sight system linked to the machine gun and other weapons systems on the Rooivalk. Unfortunately during my operational service as a paratrooper the Rooivalk was still in development and not yet operational.
Are you talking about the Superhind build by ATE back in the day? Examples are used by Algeria and the demo, code ZU-boi, is now parked at the Paramount Midrand campus.
@@pieterreynders5607 yep, pretty much. Out of 5 variants, the two main ones are Mark III and V. With Mark III having advanced versions for Bulgaria and Azerbaijan. So I was thinking about hybrid Mark III(as in hybrid of original, bulgarian and azerbaijan ones) and Mark V as possible worthy additions.
@@pieterreynders5607 nope, I'm from Belarus. It's just the info in the open access about those projects and I just like the looks of Mark V. Plus Mokopa slaps ingame so it would be great to have more helicopters armed with it. Well, great not for tank players😅
@@TheArklyte I used to work for ATE (the company who did the first modifications) still got a lot of friends who were involved in the development. Would love to see it in the game...premium or not.
I actually have it on my bedside table. Finishing off Ed Macy's book "Apache" and was curious about how it compared to the Rooivalk - my brother was involved with them.
My father worked on this helicopter. As a South African Military Health Services psychologist, he assessed the effect of the comfort levels in the cockpit 😁
I prefer it over the AH-64, do to it less of a brick when it comes to handling; while offers the same, if not slightly better firepower. Tough the large "wheelbase" is a problem because it makes hard to land on helipads (heli PvE), and can easily "whip" down its tail during landing, suffering damage; and sometimes I feel like its less responsive than a Apache or even than a Hind.
Moral of the story... dont mess with the South africans. We do have the knowledge and expertise to make world class weapon platforms. Another example is the G6 artillery platform
0:55 The SAAF decals portrayed on the Alloeutte 3 helicopter are completely incorrect. These were used during the Korean war on P51 Mustangs and Sabre jets of 2 squadron pre 1961.
For clarity when people refer to the rooivalk being the first helicopter to do a 360 it means it was the first that could go from right side up to upside down and back.
Normally called a barrel roll. Flying upside down , would require reverse thrust , or at the very least two leading edges which would inturn leave you with fckall lift. I saw a cow being ridden by wukkefenig doing dressage and hurdles with a jet propellant stuck up it's poop sloot.
only one thing i found a bit off is the pronunciation of Rooivalk: we roll the R, so it sounds more like RRRooivalk, but other than that, i have no complaints, amazing video enlightening others about our achievements
Forget about the Rooivalk, SA does not even have enough electricity under ANC and ESKOM. With incompetence, mismanagement, and full blown corruption, I believe all industrial, technology and economic endeavours will grind to a complete halt.
When I was a kid my best friend's dad worked on the weapons systems and when he occasionally worked at home we had to be kicked out of the house coz we were not allowed to see what he was working on. Was always very exciting. At the time we did not know what he did for a living but we knew it was top secret and because he had a silicon graphics workstation we knew it was something to do with design. Years later he left south Africa to design "washing machines" 😂 yeah right!
The decline and fall of SA has been planned and orchestrated by the NWO Oligarchs in order to obtain control of all its resources and infrastructure for a sixpence. The ANC are just the puppets and useful idiots of the NWO Oligarchs.
What the video doesn't mention is the South African invention of the 20mm canon being controlled by the pilots helmet in which ever direction the pilot looks, the 20mm canon will aim in that direction. The Americans bought the technology from South Africa.
I remember seeing these Rooivalk helicopters flight testing when we did our training cross country runs past Denel in Atlasville, Boksburg South Africa back in the mid 90’s
I read somewhere that the helmet tracking system used on the Rooivalk was one of the first for its time. Not sure how true that is, but impressive none the less. Awesome airframe.
The rooivalk is a great machine and represents South Africa being one of the five nations capable of developing attack helicopters entirely on their own. Even though in war thunder, the rooivalk's performance was not superb, it has a really good result in helicopter PVE due to their huge payloads, I guess for a gamemode that features hours of flight, it certainly did what it does best IRL. Unfortunatly, the G-LYNX is still far superior in both performance and matchmaking, and allows the grind to the AH Mk.1 just as easy while at a much cheaper price. With that being said, there are more South African helicopters that could see its show in War Thunder. Perhaps a South African branch with the XH-1(a meme-type), an XTP and a SuperHind with a TT rooivalk at the end?
I heard from a pilot, that Desert Storm would have gone a lot better for the USAF chopper pilots had they the Rooivalk, made for savanna/desert warfare (that's why the filters at the engine air ducts) instead Apaches...
I have seen this chopper do maneuvrs a couple of times... it can really do a terrifying fast troop insertion... there should be lots of footage online. They had them at just about every airshow.
Had the privelege of touching a production unit and flying the pilot training simulator (unsuccessfully lol). Beauty of a machine and a testament to South African ingenuity.
Im a south african and very proud of this machine. The design of this beautiful helicopter shows what south africa could do. Add to this the G-6 and south Africa's many munitions and you get a picture of the kind if skill we had. I wish one if the big plastic model companies would mold a 1/48 version of this.
A friend of mine was part of the team that developed the cockpit and doors. First door design opened too high and would have hit the rotors... Back to the drawing board.. Great aircraft, pity ZA never sold any.
I heard a rumor that in the 90's the Brits wanted to buy the Rooivalk over the Apache but only if it came with hellfire's and then the yanks refused to sell the hellfire's so they went with Apache instead 🤷♂
falcon (larger) vs hawk (medium) vs kestrel (smallerst hovering) i think the best translation is red falcon. Falcon, kestrel, and hawk are all types of birds of prey, but they belong to different genera and have some distinct characteristics. Falcon: - Falcons are known for their long, pointed wings and swift, agile flight. - They are skilled hunters, known for their ability to catch prey in mid-air. - Falcons have a notched beak and a distinctive facial "moustache" marking. Kestrel: - Kestrels are smaller than falcons and hawks, with a more buoyant, hovering flight pattern. - They are often seen hunting from a stationary position, hovering in the air before diving down to catch their prey. - Kestrels have a habit of hovering with rapid wingbeats while scanning the ground for prey. Hawk: - Hawks are generally larger and more robust than falcons and kestrels, with broad wings and a stocky build. - They are known for their soaring flight patterns and their keen eyesight for spotting prey from a distance. - Hawks have a hooked beak and powerful talons for capturing and killing their prey. While all three are birds of prey and share some similarities in their hunting behaviours, they have distinct physical and behavioral differences that set them apart.
Dollar for Dollar, no country in the world can rival the military achievements of the South African Boer. They developed nuclear long range missiles that could be delivered with accuracy. They did this with almost zero budget and faster than any other ever. It took the USA buying Caspirs, Buffels from South Africa and additional 30 years to cutch up with South African mine-proof technology. I can go on for hours with what a handful of people achieved in such a short period and with almost zero cash. The initial budget for development of the Caspir was R 30 000.00, this wont cover the Pentagons food bill for 1 day
And Iran blames the West for Sanctions for the falling of their presidential heli. Meanwhile, South Africa developed technologies and vehicles on their own with all the sanctions placed on them. It seems like you only need to take initiative instead of playing the victim.
Im a ex Ratel gunner from that war era and i remember the rooivalk been mentioned but have never actualy seen one in person until years later when a couple flew over where i live, also the rooivalk was just a little after my national service and in my time it was the Alouette, Puma and Super Frelon as the heavy duty workhorse on the helicopter side of things and added to our magnificent military of the day, sadly i cant say the same for the mess we call a army these days lol, Hell this army dont even stand a chance against the salvation army imo !!! 👀
Cool vid, and nice use of War Thunder game footage, just a few corrections.... 1. Pitting it against the Mi-24. It was never meant to compete with the Mi-24, and should not be compared to it. The Mi-24 is a Gunship. The Rooivalk equivalents are the Comanche and the Apache. 2. "Socialist People's Republic of Angola"? I have no idea where you got this name from. The Angola faction backed by the Soviets in Angola (which the SADF fought against) was MPLA and their military wing was FAPLA. At the time, the name for the present-day country Namibia was "South West Africa". The faction the SADF fought against at the same time, was SWAPO (South West African People's Organization). It is noteworthy that the USSR did support them by Financing, Training and Arming them, but that Cuba (under Fidel Castro) was the Soviets' official proxy for this. 3. Air Superiority and The Puma Helicopter You mention that it was the Puma and Alouette were not up for the task in Angola. It should be noted that the Russians maintained Air Superiority in Angola the entire 23-year war. The South African Airforce mainly operated on the Border War -which was fought concurrently with the Angolan war -on the border between Angola and South West Africa (modern-day Namibia). As for the Puma...South Africa was not allowed to import Puma helicopters. Somestic industries examined means of improving the Puma helicopter, and then built the Atlas Oryx (which is often mistaken for the Puma. It is basically an improved version of the Puma, which was built by South Africa to fit the heavy demand for the wars South Africa was involved in. Development on the Rooivalk started the same time the development on the Oryx was underway, and both were based on the Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma. The Rooivalk took much longer though, due to protracted budget challenges. The Rooivalk was built because South Africa realized they were facing increasing conventional warfare situations and needed an attack helicopter. It was meant to operate like the AH-64 Apache. It was never an answer to the Mi-24 (which was used in the war from almost the beginning)...nobody has an answer to the Mi-24. 😅 The rest are very well put. 👍 It is a magnificent piece of engineering, and actually outperforms the Apache.
What I would say is that was literally the good old days. You say there are 12 but my understanding is there are 3 or 4 that are operational due to no maintenace by our wonderful current government.
As an SA citizen it's sad that this Machine is not even in service anymore I don't even think South Africa has an military fleet to be taken seriously by any invading countries
😂😂 sorry to burst your bubble, but when I lived in hillbrow and went to a home cell/church, we had a brilliant British mathematician/rocket scientist who attended and was the leading boffin above other boffins who were making the thing work. Like u say, based on other choppers. What a glorious waste of money, coz by 1990 the only war going on was chasing the mudflaps around Soweto in ratels and buffels
@@FuriousFire898 You're so in denial lol. Have you seen that prototype chinese helicopter and the z-19??? Ridiculous flight model that can easily dodge any spaa missiles. So it's needed to buff rooivalk flight...
Thank you very much for this homeage to our beloved Rooivalk and the people involved. I am proud to have been involved in the manufacturing and operation of it. One day...I hope...she will really show all the world what can be done when the whole world leaves you in the dark.
So you're hoping for more war? well....
Speaking of being left in the dark, aren't you South Africans struggling to keep the electricity on with that horrendously corrupt government? Hmm...
well.....an airshow won't do much good.... she is a war machine, designed to do war. No need to start a war....everywhere is some conflict of some way or the other.
He wants an opportunity to show the world the capabilities of this gem of helicopter engineering.
@@technicallynothing841I think he’s hoping that more countries acknowledge this outstanding vehicle and maybe bring it into their forces
In SA we say “‘n Boer Maak ‘n Plan” loosely translated meaning a Farmer Makes a Plan. When we needed something and did not have it we made it, and in making it we did it extremely well.
Thank you for acknowledging that airframe. I was involved in the manufacturing process from 1997 until 2000. The most fascinating project undertaken.
Bit late in the assembly line
Goodness me, what a small world! My late father was also involved in the manufacturing process of the Rooivalk. He helped make that helmet with the awesome retina target system (whatever it is called). I also got a part time job where my father was working and we saw them testing the gun turrets. I first saw the helicopter in action at an army expo in Midrand and was really blown away. Perhaps you knew my father? His name was Arthur Harold Snell and worked for IST in Pretoria.
In fact, the Rooivalk was the main inspiration for China to develop its own dedicated Attack Helicopter
You Mean Eurocopter like design?
True
@@jamesedwardladislazerrudo1378 Eurocopter was designed when?
@@jamesedwardladislazerrudo1378this was designed way before the eurocopter
Yes - China bought a few Rooivalk and converted them into their Z-10 - which is their main attack helo
My dad was on the development team at Denel (Kentron back then). His team developed the helmet tracking system, wherein the position of the pilot's eye as well as his head orientation was measured in order to take measurements or aim weapons to whatever he was looking at. A bunch of world-class systems in this machine, all grown on home soil ☺️
Then the Americans stole the tech and claimed it as their own
Hi fred, my dad was involved in the helmet too, as well as the helicopter's telemetry and some missile tracking stuff.... His name is Jorge Rodriguez
I believe it was the first of it's kind.
My uncle worked for Atlas at that time and he was responsible for the fuel system design if memory serves me right. He was also involved in the Turkish TAI TF Kaan project. It's nice to hear from other folks that had family involved in the Rooivalk project.
@@free_stylabro6490 For sure! Nice to meet you :)
Fun fact my dad served with the SA army he is a lt col now and told me that we south africans actually came up with the idea of the helmet display where the 20 mm cannon follows your direction that you are looking at but was first achieved by the Americans
Exactly ❤ I heard to
correct
The idea was stolen from South Africa by the USA
Correct
My dad worked on the helmet too, and I believe on the telemetry systems of the Rooivalk, and parts of the missile tracking systems - something along those lines. I'm sure he must know yuor dad. His name is Jorge Rodriguez. I've got vague memories of him bringing the helmet home one day to work on it. I think they had used the tiny CRT monitor from a video camera in the helmet, at least in the prototype phase.
Its always awesome to hear and see my country been mentioned like this and proves we where underestimated for our time back then.
Awesome to see our gear immortalized in these games.
amen. hope you guys voted
We'll be back, trust me.
in 2013 in the country DRC, rooivalk played a vital role in destroying and routing the m23 rebels. also you forgot to mention it can do a 360 loop :)
I think you meant DRC, it was delayed going to CAR.
Yet it's impossible in warthunder. However Chinese helicopter can?! 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
@@agentmonde1 ah yeah THANKS!
@@NCSiebertdesignall helicopters can
In 1946 the Sikorsky R5 also were able to do a loop and barrel roll. That not much of a achievement.
Now the M23 in DRC are supported by a couple of Norinco WZ551 6×6 IFV mobile SAM system, for that reason the soldiers operating there have no air support. If you search "Rwanda Air Defense shoot down DRC Su 27" you will get a video of a missile just missing the frogfoot.... and that thing was moving fast. Just think what it will do against a slow moving helicopter.
But yes agree it was much better doing operations knowing the Rooivalk is in area. The Mi24's that was also in the UN Mission can not give the same type of close fire support.
My old man did the communications for the Rooivalk and my uncle was Project manager for the Maurader armoured vehicle. Some amazing military equipment still being made in SA today. I got to climb around in the Rooivalk as a youngster 😊
Sorry bru . South Africa is not making any amazing anything .. .. we don't have electricity, no water and no jobs.. in order to make amazing things you need the white man. . and we leaving finally.. can't do business with no electricity 😂😂😂
Hi dean, my dad was involved too, worked on the helmet as well as some telemetry and missile tracking stuff.... His name is Jorge Rodriguez
@@troothhertz6297 Wait brother, with energy independence at over 6GW for the private sector in operation and big companies being able to manufacture again.. SA is primed for massive growth.
Its not just pie in the sky hopes and dreams anymore, it's just that it's not common knowledge for the everyday Joe. I'm energy independent, water independent via a borehole and sewage/waste water via a sewage plant for the home. All in, cost around R600k. would be half that if I had the time to diy.
I've been saying this for years but I'll say it again for you specifically, gtfo of the cities and get cheap gridless agri land.
@@michaelnuttall5896 I am going off grid to.. and I do know of IPP projets coming up. Rustenburg first to do waste to energy from its landfill sites and municipality waste will deliver 200 mW. So yes let's be hopeful an DA and ANC join hands to put SA on the right path
I'm not sure the mudflaps can produce anything other than dig a hole and fck up the pick and spade.
Proud enough to say that have sat in and been around this beatiful creation.
Did my final year university project on the night vision goggles used by these pilots and how it affects vision, and whether could be used by low vision patients as a visual aid in real world setting.
16 squadron is based just outside Bloemfontein. Went to the airbase, met and tested all the pilots and was lucky enough to be invited to see and sit in the helicopters. Also got invited to night time viewing with the night vision goggles and systems.
Also one of the few helicopters that can do a "loop" and fly upside down for a short while. Awesome
At an airshow at Ysterplaat it did a backwards loop. That was interesting to see
@@2engjnr2
Ja, and it bounced on a trampoline and did a triple barani , then rode a quad bike .
A mate of mine flew the Rooivalk for years. Used to love listening to his stories of combat in the previous helicopters and how much that would have changed if they had the rooivalk earlier.
Pronunciation is Rooifalck, correct in the video. Thank you for that. 🎉
'Valk' translates into Hawk in English. The SA arms industry was always focused on domestic consumption, not export. The Rooivalk & other SA armaments are of such high quality, robust engineering & highly competitive in price that they would do very well on the international market, especially in countries of the Global South, if SA's arms industry became export oriented.
We tried to sell some to Turkey but the bid failed they went with an Italian design but I'm not sure if Turkey went through with it afterall.. so far as I know nothing has been delivered outside Italy I think Italy is still waiting on the last batch to be delivered for its own airforce...anyway at the moment of the 11 Rooivalk attack helicopters in service, only two are currently operable we have fallen behind on maintenance denel is over burdened by repair orders and is either under staffed or underfunded probably both
The global south hey. Wow, them penguins on Antarctica got wings, red bull fck the rooivalk. Huge waste
@@SteveWarlee rooivalk was actually a cost saving measure it allowed the SANDF to reduce the amount of tanks and airdefences we need to keep on standby
gaijin.. please free the basement guy.. he hasnt seen the real sun in years! he has only seen the fire balls of the nuke 💀💀
This is genuinely a brilliant helicopter in the game. Fastest hellfire type missiles, wonderful agility, decent A2A along with its pretty solid cannon, and built in MAWS..
Yeah, though it's a premium, it's well worth its value!
We should tag team at some stage.
It is a genuinely brilliant helicopter in real life too
Many excellent machines in the old SADF ; The Samil truck series ( 20, 50, 100 and armoured version) were made out of 10 different trucks, The Buffel design, ( mounted on a Mercedes Unimog) The Ratel ( SA design) with a V12 Rolls Rolls enjin, The AA 35mm canon with Porsche generators The G5,6, Canons among few...and it was well maintained....
I went on a school trip where i receive a poster with its inner compartments and a briefing on its abilites. I also saw it in airshows where it demonstrated it's abilities. It has helmet mounted gun tracking sites, could do 360s, silent running and has the ability to move on the ground to surprise aa and tanks. It also has the ability to pull 45+ deg back with its nose pointing down and fire a massive volly, it has a gimbiling rotor system that keeps the blades at a level angle. And I believe it has ejection.
I believe anything ejection would look like minced tartare .
I saw the Rooivalk in action at a military hardware expo in Midrand somewhere back in mid 1990s also. It does have ejection capabilities and many other advanced features.
yay! Rooivalk! So happy my country made this and that it's in game!
Edit:please add South African aircraft to the game Gaijin.
Edit 2: to get Gaijin to add South African aircraft, we shall spam in the comment section of every new video "add South African aircraft". As always, best way to get what you want from Gaijin is to bully them XD.
We need the super hind that south Africa upgraded
We should be getting the SA service Gripen this next patch, but it would be very cool to see the mirage F1s and the Cheetahs ingame too
@@fraser9580Especially the F1's we had with the R73 missiles. Would be a very unique vehicle in game
@@fraser9580 yeah it would be cool.
@@billyhall3309one with mig29 engine as upgraded. SuperMirage
Thanks a lot for adding it back into the game gaijin. I as a South African really appreciate it
An attack helicopter, the South African counterpart of the Apache that is just very pure good. 16 of those air-to-surface missiles, a 20mm cannon and can do maneuvers that are a just like the other helicopters with only 12 produced? Now that's hard work.
I imagine their all lying in the mealie fields with some muddy growing ganja out the flower pot exhausts
I've seen the Rooivalk irl it was amazing, also got to see the place (Reutech) where the radios are made and tested!!
You a Saffa?
Yup
My old man worked in that building. Worked on the Rooivalks Radios as an electronic engineer, so I got to see them in person as a lighty 😊
@@deanredgate3760 you a Saffa?
was doing a ferrari race day and one followed us around the track, facing us. its was one of the coolest things iv done
What a great innovative equipment this is, it is proudly South African, and I hope we can realise that we are capable of achieving great things 🇿🇦
Thank you for this video on the South African Rooivalk attack helicopter. The name Rooivalk is the Afrikaans name for the Rock Kestrel, bird of prey. This Kestrel uses the unique hover and attack approach to hunt its prey.
The helicopter was developed and built by Armscor at its subsidiaries Atlas whilst Kentron was responsible for the missiles & rocket development as well as the helmet sight system linked to the machine gun and other weapons systems on the Rooivalk.
Unfortunately during my operational service as a paratrooper the Rooivalk was still in development and not yet operational.
Would be fun to see SuperHinds(at least two main ones) in South Africa subtree. And how they compare with Mi-35M.
Are you talking about the Superhind build by ATE back in the day? Examples are used by Algeria and the demo, code ZU-boi, is now parked at the Paramount Midrand campus.
@@pieterreynders5607 yep, pretty much. Out of 5 variants, the two main ones are Mark III and V. With Mark III having advanced versions for Bulgaria and Azerbaijan. So I was thinking about hybrid Mark III(as in hybrid of original, bulgarian and azerbaijan ones) and Mark V as possible worthy additions.
@@TheArklyte did you have any connection with ATE?
@@pieterreynders5607 nope, I'm from Belarus. It's just the info in the open access about those projects and I just like the looks of Mark V. Plus Mokopa slaps ingame so it would be great to have more helicopters armed with it. Well, great not for tank players😅
@@TheArklyte I used to work for ATE (the company who did the first modifications) still got a lot of friends who were involved in the development. Would love to see it in the game...premium or not.
No army like the old SADF. Our Recces topped both the British SAS and the USA Navy seals. ( read the Silent War by Peter Stiff ( British writer) )
I actually have it on my bedside table. Finishing off Ed Macy's book "Apache" and was curious about how it compared to the Rooivalk - my brother was involved with them.
Don't forget our pilots. Even in WW2, our pilots were ranked as exceptional airmen by Americans, Brits, Aussies and the like.
Watching this from South Africa 💪💪💪
Proud to say my dad designed the mechanics for the moving map display used as part of that avionics suite.
My father worked on this helicopter. As a South African Military Health Services psychologist, he assessed the effect of the comfort levels in the cockpit 😁
I prefer it over the AH-64, do to it less of a brick when it comes to handling; while offers the same, if not slightly better firepower. Tough the large "wheelbase" is a problem because it makes hard to land on helipads (heli PvE), and can easily "whip" down its tail during landing, suffering damage; and sometimes I feel like its less responsive than a Apache or even than a Hind.
It's an old aircraft that hasn't been updated in a long time.
Moral of the story... dont mess with the South africans. We do have the knowledge and expertise to make world class weapon platforms. Another example is the G6 artillery platform
This is why i love War thunder.
When they added Sadf stuff i was like no way.
Know i use the rooivalk every day.
Thank you from South africa
Wow had no idea the Rooivalk had been added to War Thunder. I did get the Rooikat a while so so will certainly go get the Rooivalk now too.
0:55 The SAAF decals portrayed on the Alloeutte 3 helicopter are completely incorrect. These were used during the Korean war on P51 Mustangs and Sabre jets of 2 squadron pre 1961.
my late father worked on the ejection seat mechanism at denel. I think this thing could also do a loop at the time
What do I think .. don't underestimate a dutchman
Was the Netherlands involved in the design and construction of this helicopter?
I helped build her and I'll be forever proud of our achievements even though she's literally dead now.
Rest in Peace Rooivalk!
Greetings! Were you working for Denel or IST?
For clarity when people refer to the rooivalk being the first helicopter to do a 360 it means it was the first that could go from right side up to upside down and back.
Normally called a barrel roll. Flying upside down , would require reverse thrust , or at the very least two leading edges which would inturn leave you with fckall lift. I saw a cow being ridden by wukkefenig doing dressage and hurdles with a jet propellant stuck up it's poop sloot.
First helicopter to do this was a s52 in 1949😂
@@SteveWarlee kindly explain reverse thrust for flying upside down
War thunder is truly the best war game ever
Indeed
worst grind
@@irirjhrhr4645 lets not talk about that
@@irirjhrhr4645 tbh still a lot better than wot (at least when I still played it)
only one thing i found a bit off is the pronunciation of Rooivalk: we roll the R, so it sounds more like RRRooivalk, but other than that, i have no complaints, amazing video enlightening others about our achievements
Forget about the Rooivalk, SA does not even have enough electricity under ANC and ESKOM. With incompetence, mismanagement, and full blown corruption, I believe all industrial, technology and economic endeavours will grind to a complete halt.
When I was a kid my best friend's dad worked on the weapons systems and when he occasionally worked at home we had to be kicked out of the house coz we were not allowed to see what he was working on. Was always very exciting. At the time we did not know what he did for a living but we knew it was top secret and because he had a silicon graphics workstation we knew it was something to do with design. Years later he left south Africa to design "washing machines" 😂 yeah right!
My brother was involved with it until his death last year and same...I only knew he worked with them
Sad to see my beautiful country falling apart.... go bokke!!
The decline and fall of SA has been planned and orchestrated by the NWO Oligarchs in order to obtain control of all its resources and infrastructure for a sixpence. The ANC are just the puppets and useful idiots of the NWO Oligarchs.
I cant wait for Gaijin to add the Oryx gunship modification 😊. Please fix the Rooivalks flight performance.
And superhind! 😮 They also should nerf those ridiculous Chinese helicopter flight models too.
@@NCSiebertdesign 💯agree, if its not a Ka50 then it's those Chinese mosquitoes
What the video doesn't mention is the South African invention of the 20mm canon being controlled by the pilots helmet in which ever direction the pilot looks, the 20mm canon will aim in that direction. The Americans bought the technology from South Africa.
I remember seeing these Rooivalk helicopters flight testing when we did our training cross country runs past Denel in Atlasville, Boksburg South Africa back in the mid 90’s
It's sad that the A.N.C failed to maintain SA industrial and operational capacity.
I read somewhere that the helmet tracking system used on the Rooivalk was one of the first for its time. Not sure how true that is, but impressive none the less. Awesome airframe.
South African Invention
My late father worked on the retina tracking system. Really I was (and still am) blown away by this tech!
The rooivalk is a great machine and represents South Africa being one of the five nations capable of developing attack helicopters entirely on their own. Even though in war thunder, the rooivalk's performance was not superb, it has a really good result in helicopter PVE due to their huge payloads, I guess for a gamemode that features hours of flight, it certainly did what it does best IRL. Unfortunatly, the G-LYNX is still far superior in both performance and matchmaking, and allows the grind to the AH Mk.1 just as easy while at a much cheaper price.
With that being said, there are more South African helicopters that could see its show in War Thunder. Perhaps a South African branch with the XH-1(a meme-type), an XTP and a SuperHind with a TT rooivalk at the end?
Yes pls
Which south africa are you talking about?
Best attack helicopter in the world. It can do a 360 loop and only requires one guy with a spanner to fix.
I heard from a pilot, that Desert Storm would have gone a lot better for the USAF chopper pilots had they the Rooivalk, made for savanna/desert warfare (that's why the filters at the engine air ducts) instead Apaches...
I have seen this chopper do maneuvrs a couple of times... it can really do a terrifying fast troop insertion... there should be lots of footage online. They had them at just about every airshow.
Is it true that South Africa developed the helmet mounted “sight & shoot” for the Rooivalk?
Yes it is.
Jip
No, but it is a frequently repeated piece of braai propoganda. It uses an off the shelf Thales Top Owl helmet mounted sight.
Had the privelege of touching a production unit and flying the pilot training simulator (unsuccessfully lol). Beauty of a machine and a testament to South African ingenuity.
I’ve always loved the Roovivalk
Im a south african and very proud of this machine. The design of this beautiful helicopter shows what south africa could do. Add to this the G-6 and south Africa's many munitions and you get a picture of the kind if skill we had. I wish one if the big plastic model companies would mold a 1/48 version of this.
As a South African, I can't help but tear up at the fact we managed to create such a gorgeous machine
Yes, very beautiful and all, but when do you plan to model the cabin?
This is the largest attack helicopter in the world currently. Also the second most powerful.
If I remember correctly, my grandfather had a part in designing a helmet which allowed one to point the gun by moving your head
A friend of mine was part of the team that developed the cockpit and doors. First door design opened too high and would have hit the rotors... Back to the drawing board.. Great aircraft, pity ZA never sold any.
The Saudis was going to buy the Rooivalk, but the bloody US talked them out of it.
Halloween is here, IT'S MOUSE TIME!
I heard a rumor that in the 90's the Brits wanted to buy the Rooivalk over the Apache but only if it came with hellfire's and then the yanks refused to sell the hellfire's so they went with Apache instead 🤷♂
Yes - that's true, same with the Turkish (the French blocked the Makila engine components)
I heard the same story from BMATT officers.
falcon (larger) vs hawk (medium) vs kestrel (smallerst hovering) i think the best translation is red falcon.
Falcon, kestrel, and hawk are all types of birds of prey, but they belong to different genera and have some distinct characteristics.
Falcon:
- Falcons are known for their long, pointed wings and swift, agile flight.
- They are skilled hunters, known for their ability to catch prey in mid-air.
- Falcons have a notched beak and a distinctive facial "moustache" marking.
Kestrel:
- Kestrels are smaller than falcons and hawks, with a more buoyant, hovering flight pattern.
- They are often seen hunting from a stationary position, hovering in the air before diving down to catch their prey.
- Kestrels have a habit of hovering with rapid wingbeats while scanning the ground for prey.
Hawk:
- Hawks are generally larger and more robust than falcons and kestrels, with broad wings and a stocky build.
- They are known for their soaring flight patterns and their keen eyesight for spotting prey from a distance.
- Hawks have a hooked beak and powerful talons for capturing and killing their prey.
While all three are birds of prey and share some similarities in their hunting behaviours, they have distinct physical and behavioral differences that set them apart.
Dollar for Dollar, no country in the world can rival the military achievements of the South African Boer. They developed nuclear long range missiles that could be delivered with accuracy. They did this with almost zero budget and faster than any other ever. It took the USA buying Caspirs, Buffels from South Africa and additional 30 years to cutch up with South African mine-proof technology. I can go on for hours with what a handful of people achieved in such a short period and with almost zero cash. The initial budget for development of the Caspir was R 30 000.00, this wont cover the Pentagons food bill for 1 day
Really awesone helicopter though i hope South African jets will be added in future updates.
Good news, Aselsan will upgrade it
You need the Mirage Cheetah
And Iran blames the West for Sanctions for the falling of their presidential heli. Meanwhile, South Africa developed technologies and vehicles on their own with all the sanctions placed on them. It seems like you only need to take initiative instead of playing the victim.
As far as I know the Rooivalk was the first helicopter to do a loop
Little secret, South Africa is actually really amazing country. Hopefully more of its citizens will start realizing this
Brilliantly researched. well done!
A great piece of hardware
I see some good potential in the Denel Rooivalk. It looks like a good helicopter but I wonder if south Africa would send some Rooivalk's to Ukraine?
They only have 12 and I doubt they have been maintained
We are part of Bricks so I guess not.
Seen it in action. A truly awesome machine!!!
Im a ex Ratel gunner from that war era and i remember the rooivalk been mentioned but have never actualy seen one in person until years later when a couple flew over where i live, also the rooivalk was just a little after my national service and in my time it was the Alouette, Puma and Super Frelon as the heavy duty workhorse on the helicopter side of things and added to our magnificent military of the day, sadly i cant say the same for the mess we call a army these days lol, Hell this army dont even stand a chance against the salvation army imo !!! 👀
Cool vid, and nice use of War Thunder game footage, just a few corrections....
1. Pitting it against the Mi-24.
It was never meant to compete with the Mi-24, and should not be compared to it. The Mi-24 is a Gunship.
The Rooivalk equivalents are the Comanche and the Apache.
2. "Socialist People's Republic of Angola"?
I have no idea where you got this name from. The Angola faction backed by the Soviets in Angola (which the SADF fought against) was MPLA and their military wing was FAPLA.
At the time, the name for the present-day country Namibia was "South West Africa". The faction the SADF fought against at the same time, was SWAPO (South West African People's Organization). It is noteworthy that the USSR did support them by Financing, Training and Arming them, but that Cuba (under Fidel Castro) was the Soviets' official proxy for this.
3. Air Superiority and The Puma Helicopter
You mention that it was the Puma and Alouette were not up for the task in Angola. It should be noted that the Russians maintained Air Superiority in Angola the entire 23-year war.
The South African Airforce mainly operated on the Border War -which was fought concurrently with the Angolan war -on the border between Angola and South West Africa (modern-day Namibia).
As for the Puma...South Africa was not allowed to import Puma helicopters. Somestic industries examined means of improving the Puma helicopter, and then built the Atlas Oryx (which is often mistaken for the Puma. It is basically an improved version of the Puma, which was built by South Africa to fit the heavy demand for the wars South Africa was involved in.
Development on the Rooivalk started the same time the development on the Oryx was underway, and both were based on the Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma.
The Rooivalk took much longer though, due to protracted budget challenges. The Rooivalk was built because South Africa realized they were facing increasing conventional warfare situations and needed an attack helicopter. It was meant to operate like the AH-64 Apache. It was never an answer to the Mi-24 (which was used in the war from almost the beginning)...nobody has an answer to the Mi-24. 😅
The rest are very well put. 👍
It is a magnificent piece of engineering, and actually outperforms the Apache.
I am south African and that heli is great in-game
but I wanted to ask if there will be a South African map maybe implemented in the game
Will you do a vid just like this one in the mbt-2000. It has a very interesting history and configuration that diserves its own video.
It was very much ahead of its time Helmut sighting for front machine gun and handilling it could loop 360deg
The helmet sighting system was developed and operational before the Rooivalk was. Was used on Allouette gunships.
rooivalk is great in helicopter battles
What I would say is that was literally the good old days. You say there are 12 but my understanding is there are 3 or 4 that are operational due to no maintenace by our wonderful current government.
gaijin can you finish the cockpit on apache? btw people are paying money for the premium apache and the cockpit is still not done.
Then why are they paying money lol
MY COUNTRY ANGOLA ON A WARTHUNDER VIDEO OMG
Did you know that the shoot and forget and the gun following the pilot looking around was our inventions. We were the best
It can do barrel rolls and loops too
Dahm would be nice if this got the proper armament.
Like the fact that the South African invented HMD systems... yet the Rooivalk doesn't get it..
They also designed a quadruple world champion rugby team.😄
Thanks, Rooivalk. Looks impressive,
As an SA citizen it's sad that this Machine is not even in service anymore I don't even think South Africa has an military fleet to be taken seriously by any invading countries
war thunder gaming
What most people do not know is That South Africa actually designed the Apache and sold the patent to US.
I am south african and live there . I seen one of these in real life
Fantastic achievement!
Beatiful masterpiece
😂😂 sorry to burst your bubble, but when I lived in hillbrow and went to a home cell/church, we had a brilliant British mathematician/rocket scientist who attended and was the leading boffin above other boffins who were making the thing work. Like u say, based on other choppers. What a glorious waste of money, coz by 1990 the only war going on was chasing the mudflaps around Soweto in ratels and buffels
Proudly developed before 1994 current government can’t design or build anything experts at destroying 😢😢😢😢😢
Pre 1994 we designed and built the Rooivalk. Now, our government can't afford fuel to keep them in the air.
Love it, just wish it didn’t cost like R1500 :( that’s a solid weeks worth of pay
When I’m asked what this is cause I have it I just reply South African Apache. Cause it is
Nope🙅🏾♂️, the Rooivalk has a better flight performance than the Apache .
@@agentmonde1 But not by much
@@FuriousFire898 it can do a 360 roll... Apache hasn't managed to do it.
@@NCSiebertdesign not needed in wt gameplay
@@FuriousFire898 You're so in denial lol. Have you seen that prototype chinese helicopter and the z-19??? Ridiculous flight model that can easily dodge any spaa missiles. So it's needed to buff rooivalk flight...
Beautiful Machine. 😍
And now theres just a handful left in serviceable condition. All of them is fucked up.
Looks like a agusta mangusta mixed together with a apache.