GT Series Cannon

GT Series of Tank Cannons

Olifant Mk.1 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 of Cannons are designations given to tank cannons made by South Africa or are 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, it could fire a APDS (Armour-Piercing Discarding Sabot) shell which had roughly 285 mm to 290 mm of Rolled Homogeneous Armour (RHA) pen.

GT-2

See also: Eland armoured car

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.

GT-3

See also: Olifant (tank)

During the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War, South Africa was under Arms Embargo and they noticed that the enemy T-55 tanks they were facing could be destroyed by the GT-2 but it wasn't a high chance every time and that the T-55s could easily destroy the Eland armored cars and Ratel IFVs, so in turn Littleton Engineering Works (LIW) in the late 1970s began taking the Centurion stockpile they had left from the British Union Of South Africa and started to look into the 105mm L7 Guns they got from Israel, they Re-engineered the gun 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 and the Olifant Mk.1B and Mk.2 tanks would use a upgraded version under the name of GT-3B.The GT-3 from 1987 used the Israeli M111 APFSDS-T Shell which had roughly 390 mm to 420 mm of pen against Rolled Homogeneous Armor (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.

GT-4

See also: Rooikat

Also during the war, South Africa realized that they relied heavily on the Eland armored cars which was a large tactical and strategic issue, 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 was rejected in 1979, the program was revived in 1982 with the naval solution of the Oto Melara 76 Compact Naval Gun which was already used on South African ships, they took the Oto Melara and engineered it into a manual loaded gun meant to be used on tanks as a 76mm rifled tank gun and 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 pen 275mm of Rolled Homogeneous Armour (RHA) as can be found on the T-62 tank.

GT-6

See also: Loggim program

The GT-6 Cannon was developed soon after the GT-3 entered service in the mid-late 1980s, it was a next generation 120mm cannon which had a modular design making it able to be switched out from a 120mm gun to a 140mm gun and was originally meant for the Loggim Tank but was Canceled because it was too complex and oversized for its original use of being a tactical, mass produceable cannon for the TTD so it got cancelled sometime before the Loggim Program was cancelled due to budget cuts, although it did end up helping develop the GT-9 and GT-12 later on, the GT-6 was made to fire NATO 120mm and 140mm ammunition and is classified how much penetration it had.

GT-7

See also: Rooikat

The GT-7 started development in the early 1990s as a upgrade for the Rooikat from a 76mm gun to a 105mm gun for international export, since it was being used for a strictly light chassis it needed to be lightweight and low-recoil, when it was finished it was placed on a Rooikat under the name of Rooikat 105 and worked perfectly in tests but the post-Cold War defense market collapsed meaning no country or company bought it so it was mostly canceled, although Denel did repurpose it for the development of the T7 remote combat turret, the GT-7 cannon fired M9718 shells designed by Denel made to have a penetration of 450 mm Rolled Homogeneous Armour (RHA) at a maximum combat range of 3 km.

GT-8

See also: Olifant (tank)

The GT-8 is a 105mm cannon developed from the mid-late 1990s made to replace the old GT-3 used on the Olifant Mk.1A for preparement of the 21st century, it was built off the idea of being built for MBTs unlike the GT-7, it was tested on the Olifant Mk.1B Optimum, trails showed that it was successful and that it can be used on the Olifant Mk.2, the GT-8 fired the same shells as the GT-7 the M9718 which had a penetration of 450 mm Rolled Homogeneous Armour (RHA) at a combat range of 3 km.

GT-9

See also: Olifant (tank)

The GT-9 was a cannon that began development in the early 1990s built off of the mistakes the GT-6 left, it was a much lighter 120mm cannon designed for being produced on a much 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, although it was canceled, it also played a role in developing the GT-12 cannon, the GT-9 as it was never fully declassified and uses NATO modern day shells the amount of armor penetrationis Unknown.

GT-12

See also: Rooikat

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, it 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" but it never got past testing stage, the GT-12, same as the GT-9, hasn't been fully declassified yet and uses NATO ammunition so its penetration is classified.

Operators

Map of GT Series cannon Operators

• South African National Defence Force Produces GT Series cannons
• Royal Moroccan Armed Forces GT-2 on their Eland-90s and Ratel-90s.
• Ghana Armed Forces GT-2 on their Ratel-90s.
• Rwanda Defence Force GT-2 on their Ratel-90s.
• Djibouti Armed Forces GT-2 on their Ratel-90s.
• Defence Forces of Senegal GT-2 on their Ratel-90s and Eland-90s.
• Cameroon Armed Forces GT-2 on their Eland-90s.
• Zambian Defence Force GT-2 on their Ratel-90s.
• Zimbabwe Defence Forces GT-2 on their Eland-90s.
• Chad National Army GT-2 on their Eland-90s.
• Malawian Defence Force GT-2 on their Eland-90s.
• Ivory Coast Armed Forces GT-2 on their Eland-90s.
• Gabon Armed Forces GT-2 on their Eland-90s.
• Benin Armed Forces GT-2 on their Eland-90s.
• Burkina Faso Armed Forces GT-2 on their Eland-90s.
• Uganda People's Defence Force GT-2 on their Eland-90s.
• Jordan Armed Forces GT-2 in their Stockpiles.
• Yemeni Armed Forces GT-2 in their Stockpiles.

Former Operators

• South African Defence Force, Invented and used the GT Series of cannons.
• Rhodesian Security Forces, GT-2 cannons on their Eland-90s.
• South West African Territorial Forces, Branch of the SADF which used Eland-90s and Ratel-90s with GT-2 Cannons.