Hippo APC

Hippo
Armscor Hippo at the SAPS Museum, Ventersburg
Type	Armoured personnel carrier
Place of origin	South Africa
Service history
In service	1974 - 1978 [1]
Used by	See Operators
Wars	Rhodesian Bush War South African Border War Soweto uprising
Production history
Designer	Armscor South Africa
Designed	1974 [2]
Manufacturer	Armscor South Africa
No. built	275 (Mk 1-R) [2] 402 (Mk 1-M) [3]
Variants	See Variants
Specifications
Mass	8.8 tonnes (9.7 short tons; 8.7 long tons) [1]
Length	6.53 m (21 ft 5 in) [2]
Width	2.46 m (8 ft 1 in) [2]
Height	3.3 m (10 ft 10 in) [2]
Crew	2
Passengers	10
Main armament	2x 7.62mm M1919 Browning machine guns [1]
Engine	Bedford 2.5 L (150 in3) inline 6-cylinder water-cooled petrol [2]
Transmission	ZF 4-speed manual synchromesh (2nd, 3rd, 4th gears) [2] [3]
Ground clearance	32 cm [2]
Fuel capacity	240 litres [2]
Operational range	640 km [1]
Maximum speed	73 km/h [1]

The Hippo is a South African armoured personnel carrier. Specially designed to be mine resistant, it can carry ten infantrymen and a crew of two. ^[3] The vehicle's remote-operated turret mounts dual 7.62mm machine guns, but like other improvised fighting vehicles, it is only lightly protected against ballistic threats. ^[3]

Development history

An interim solution adopted to deal with the threat of land mines deployed by the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) in northern Ovamboland, the Hippo was simply a blastproof hull fitted to a Bedford RL chassis. Similar to the BTR-152, it offered a staggered troop compartment with seating facing inwards. Vision was restricted to narrow plate glass windows. This layout was universally unpopular and later corrected with the Buffel. ^[2] There were firing ports for the occupants and a powered machine gun turret could be braced on the open top, though these were seldom fitted. Passengers and crew debussed from a rear deck. ^[2]

The Hippo Mk1-R was based on a M1961 Bedford truck chassis, which was being phased from South African service in 1974. ^[1] The Mk1-R was manufactured using mild steel and RB390 armour steel. ^[3] Some 150 Mk1-R were ordered and shipped to the South African Police in 1974, another 5 being donated to the South-West African authorities. ^[2] Police units left behind several when they withdrew from Rhodesia in 1976; these were retained by the Rhodesian Security Forces ^{[4] [5]} and later passed on to the Zimbabwe National Army. ^[6] In 1978, 120 Hippo Mk1-R conversions of M1970 Bedfords was undertaken for the South African Defence Force, which had assumed responsibility for patrols along the Angolan border and needed a new mine protected vehicle. The Hippo Mk1-M used ROQ TUFF steel instead of mild steel. The South African Army ordered 402 Mk1-M. ^[3]

The Hippo served its purpose for the South African Army but it was heavy, and lacked true off-road capability. A new mine-protected vehicle had been designed in April 1976 although it would be another two years before the Buffel would eventually replace the Hippo as the Army's premier troop-carrying mine-protected vehicle. ^[3]

Variants

• Hippo Mk1-R - 1974 model, built on the 1961 Bedford chassis. ^[3]
• Hippo Mk1-M - 1978 model, built on the 1970 Bedford chassis. ^[3]

Operators

•   South Africa: South African Defence Force and South African Police ^[3]
• South-West Africa: South West African Police ^[3]
•   Rhodesia: Rhodesian Security Forces ^{[4] [5] [7] [3]}
•   Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) ^[6]

In popular culture

The Hippo made some appearances in television and film productions shot in Zimbabwe and set in the Apartheid era of the 1970s-1980s. In one such production, the British 1987 epic apartheid drama film Cry Freedom , ZNA Hippos appear on several scenes portraying South African Defence Force (SADF) and South African Police (SAP) armoured vehicles.

See also

• Casspir
• Crocodile Armoured Personnel Carrier
• Buffel
• Bullet TCV
• Gazelle FRV
• List of weapons of the Rhodesian Bush War
• MAP45 Armoured Personnel Carrier
• MAP75 Armoured Personnel Carrier
• Mine Protected Combat Vehicle (MPCV)

Notes

1. "Lesakeng". South African Armour Museum. 6 December 2012. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
2. Heitman, South African Armed Forces (1990), p. 44.
3. Camp & Heitman, Surviving the Ride – A Pictorial History of South African-Manufactured Armoured Vehicles (2014), pp. 41–45.
4. Abbott, Botham & Chappell, Modern African Wars (1): Rhodesia 1965–80 (1986), p. 39.
5. Locke & Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80 (1995), p. 99.
6. Nelson, Zimbabwe: A Country Study (1983), pp. 237–317.
7. Moorcraft & McLaughlin, The Rhodesian War: A Military History (2008), p. 104.

References

• Harold D. Nelson, Zimbabwe: A Country Study (DA PAM 550-171), United States Govt Printing Office, Washington D.C., 2nd edition (January 1, 1983). ISBN   978-0160015984
• Helmoed-Römer Heitman, South African Armed Forces, Buffalo Publications, Cape Town (South Africa) 1990. ISBN   0-620-14878-0
• Paul L. Moorcraft & Peter McLaughlin, The Rhodesian War: A Military History, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, Barnsley, South Yorkshire 1983 (2008 ed.). ISBN   978-1-84415-694-8
• Peter Abbott, Philip Botham and Mike Chappell, Modern African Wars (1): Rhodesia 1965–80, Men-at-arms series 183, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1986. ISBN   9780850457285
• Peter Gerard Locke & Peter David Farquharson Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965-80, P&P Publishing, Wellington 1995. ISBN   0-473-02413-6
• Peter Stiff, Taming the Landmine, Galago Publishing Pty Ltd., Alberton (South Africa) 1986. ISBN   9780947020040
• Steve Camp & Helmoed-Römer Heitman, Surviving the Ride – A Pictorial History of South African-Manufactured Armoured Vehicles, 30 Degrees South Publishers, Johannesburg (South Africa) 2014. ISBN   978-1-928211-17-4 –

External links

• The Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Hippo