Rooivalk Attack Helicopter of The South African Air Force

The Denel AH-2 Rooivalk in action at a military simulation. This South African attack helicopter was developed to act as a close support gunship for the SADF during the Angolan Border War. The Rooivalk is rated as one of the top 10 attack helicopters in the world. #saaf #rooivalk #attackhelicopter

[RealWitblitz]

I once heard that the IHTS (Integrated Helmet Targeting System) was pioneered on the Rooivalk, and that the technology was later adopted by American and others. Is this true?

[sheckylee]

Without a doubt one of the best attack helo's in the world.
It's too bad so few were made.

[xXcreedfanXx]

My father designed the 20mm cannon on this heli...

[ahmuh]

i am in love with the Rooivalk! when i become an army officer... this is gonna be my helicopter :D

[tonybletas]

I'd imagine it to be broadly similar in capabilities to most western attack choppers, but as for aesthetics, the South Africans have one seriously sexy beast right there!

[ljbunso]

we are all talking about APACHE, COBRA, KAMOV, MIL MI, AGUSTA WESTLAND, EUROPCOPTER TIGER, TAK 129 .. BUT WE FORGOT SOMETHING... THE TRUE BEAST, DENEL AH2 ROOVIAK

[Daud]

xX1creedfanXx, my father also worked on the 20mm cannon. He helped design the pupil guidance system, ie, where pilot looks the gun aims.

[Timma-ec]

The pilot Flying is in the Rear or front?

[coxsen]

Apart from the fact that they are all attack helicopters, there is no commonality between Rooivalk, Tiger or any of the other mentioned machines.
They were also not made out of Pumas that were"taken apart:" as suggested by Luke Pym. It is a "new build" aircraft

[bagarundia]

A decade later only a couple of them are still flyable.

[DanieKoch]

Do they still fly or rusted now. Awesome heli

[coxsen]

To Danieb52 and Taishet.
Although sharing components with Oryx and SuperPuma (AS 332) like its Makila engines, it is a completely new aircraft that shares almost nothing with any other aircraft (some weapons and avionics etc). It is a heavier machine than both Z 10 (and A 129  and Tiger which are both substantially lighter) roughly about the same as the AH 64. It is interesting to note that, although not the highest top speed, it has the highest cruising speed of all gunship helicopters.

[deonolivier]

As an engineer, only fools develops from scratch, you take what you have and optimise with caution. Old school did the same, nobody worth anything is gung ho. Baby steps keeps peeps alive.

[MatomeMaponya-rr]

Proudly South African
Viva South Africa Viva ✊ salute

[kotzelouw]

Ek is 'n Trotse Suid Afrikaner.   Was daardie tyd in die Weermag met goeie Dissipline!!!

[akatchihoodcomedy]

powerful country in Africa south african 😢😢😢😢 yoooo

[coxsen]

Rooivalk shares dynamic components with Oryx (engines, gearboxes and rotor systems) but obviously has a completely new fuselage

[refiandikrisnawan]

Dear Africa Travel Channel, I'm admin of the modelkitindo channel, I ask permission to hanging this video on my channel as a teaser, and I will enclose your channel name on the video and link in description ... thank you

[JuanOlivier]

That's true since the Rooivalk was manufactured in 1988. That would then place SA 4th.

[Luke-hqpu]

What allot of you don't know is that the Rooivalk is made of exactly the same parts as the puma/oryx. The South Africans designed the Rooivalk during its apartheid era, when the was a weapon embargo on S.A, so that they could take apart a puma and construct a rooivalk, hence the similarities in the main and tail rotor, the engines, avionics, etc. They simply changed the shape to give it attack helicopter characteristics. This also explained why the project was so expensive.