Army cares for Casspir

21 June 2011 by defenceWeb

The cost of maintaining the South African Army's fleet of Casspir mine protected armoured personnel carriers stands at over R173.9 million for the period since February 2007.

The latest R6.1 million contract awarded BAE Systems last week for the depot-level repair of Casspir components takes the bill for the motorised infantry prime mover to R173 972 112.04. An estimated 2500 CASSPIR were built and about 170 remain in South African Army service. Some 167 CASSPIRs were upgraded in 2006 as part of Project Gijima. The first prototype rolled out of the TFM plant in April 1979.

Originally developed by the then-Defence Research Unit of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research on a budget of R80 000 to a South African Police requirement for an armoured, mine-protected counterinsurgency vehicle – hence the name “CASSPIR”, an anagram for SAP and CSIR – the vehicle was also adopted in that role by the SA Army. During the Namibian-Angolan Border War (1966-1989), the CASSPIR served, inter alia with the police counterinsurgency unit commonly known as “Koevoet”, the South West African Territory Force's 101 Battalion and the SA Defence Force's 5 Reconnaissance Regiment (5RR). After the end of the war the 101Bn vehicles were returned to the SA Army and assigned to the motorised infantry. 5RR has been renamed 5 Special Forces Regiment. It s still believed to operate this outstanding, if elderly, vehicle.

The Army is seeking to replace the CASSPIR under a programme known as Project Sapula. The Army plans a “family of vehicles” that use the same drive train and chassis as selected for the future tactical truck programme, Project Vistula.

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