According to Patrick Kenyette on AfricanMilitaryBlog, it appears that the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) has received a large shipment of various military equipment. The hardware was shipped through Walvis Bay and will be delivered via Namibia. The equipment was reportedly ordered from France in 2016 and there is no indication that these deliveries are recent since to date, there is no publicly known information regarding the export.
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One of Botswana’s obtained MBDA Mistral ALBI short-range anti-aircraft missile systems based on a Panhard VBL (Picture source: africanmilitaryblog)
Photographs and videos which were published online show several shrink-wrapped Mowag Piranha IIIC armored personnel carriers being transported on low-bed trucks. Also, a Panhard VBL fitted with a missile launcher assembly most likely for the Mistral anti-aircraft system can be seen. Others include a Unimog U5000-mounted Mistral command post, a VL MICA anti-aircraft missile transporter-erector-launcher truck, and a VL MICA truck-mounted radar or command post vehicle. Botswana has become the next recipient of the VL MICA ground-based air defense system, which to date, according to well-known data, has already been delivered to the UAE, Oman, the National Guard of Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and has recently been commissioned by Morocco.
According to an independent source, Patrick Kenyette continues, Botswana first ordered 50 MBDA MICA missiles for its air defense in 2016, for approximately €304.2 million. The source also disclosed that Botswana ordered an additional 45 General Dynamics European Land Systems - Mowag Piranha IIICs, which have been delivered in small batches over the past few years. Bostwana had already received 45 units of PIranha IIIC in 2003-2004.
According to the French Ministry of Defense 2017 report to Parliament on arms exports, published in July that year, most of the money was believed to be from a contract with MBDA for MICA-VL and Mistral missiles. It had been reported that Botswana was interested in these missiles for a time and Botswana Defence Force (BDF) commander Lt.Gen. Galebotswe accompanied by Lt.Co.l Mokgadi and Lt.Col. Motlaleng were in France in December 2015 for a demonstration of the missile systems.
As Defence Web reported on August 3, 2017, the Mistral/MICA agreement was not the first defense deal between Botswana and France, as the BDF is a user of ACMAT (Ateliers de Construction Mécanique de L’Atlantique) 4x4 and 6x6 vehicles. However, last year’s contracts dwarf orders in previous years of €12 million in 2014 and just €0.1 million in 2015. According to the report, France delivered 14 missile launchers to Botswana in 2016. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s Arms Transfer Database notes that Botswana bought 100 Strela-3/SA-14 surface-to-air missiles from Ukraine in 2012.
Botswana is an important market for France. Paris granted 15 defense export licenses in 2016, as compared to five the year before. The law enforcement sector is also an important market – Airbus Helicopters sold three AS350 B3e (now known as the H125) Ecureuil helicopters to the Police Air Support Branch in January 2015, which joined three already acquired in 2007.
Meanwhile, in July 2017, it emerged that Botswana had purchased 500 second-hand Land Rover 110 Defenders for P161 million (12.5 million pounds) from UK-based Witham Specialist Vehicles. Land Rover Jaguar ended the production of the Defender range and its spare parts in 2015. The BDF and the Botswana Police Services Special Support Group (SSG) still have large fleets of the Defender 110 which are used for troop transportation and operational support roles.
One of Botswana's radar systems and battery fire control centers MBDA MCP on a Unimog U5000 (Picture source: africanmilitaryblog)
One of Botswana’s launchers of medium-range anti-aircraft missile system MBDA VL MICA on Rheinmetall MAN chassis (Picture source: africanmilitaryblog)
One of Botswana’s received MBDA IMCP battery fire control units on Rheinmetall MAN chassis (Picture source: africanmilitaryblog)
Shrink-wrapped GDELS Mowag Piranha IIIC APCs or IFVs delivered to Botswana (Picture source: africanmilitaryblog)
