South Africa

=== Military ===
{{Main|South African National Defence Force}}
{{Multiple image
| image1            = SAAF-Gripen-001 (cropped).jpg
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| caption1          = [[South African Air Force]] [[JAS-39|Saab Gripen]]
| image2            = Rooivalk in flight (cropped).jpg
| caption2          = South African-made [[Denel Rooivalk|Rooivalk]] attack helicopter
| image3            = SAS Spioenkop during Exercise IBSAMAR V (cropped).JPG
| caption3          = [[SAS Spioenkop|SAS ''Spioenkop'' (F147)]], one of the four  [[Valour-class frigate|Valour-class]] stealth guided-missile frigates of the [[South African Navy]]
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| perrow            = 2
| caption4          = The [[Denel Rooivalk]] attack helicopter
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 220
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The [[South African National Defence Force]] (SANDF) was created in 1994<ref name="constitution-1993-224">{{cite web|url=http://www.info.gov.za/documents/constitution/93cons.htm#SECTION224|title=Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 200 of 1993 (Section 224)|access-date=23 June 2008|year=1993|publisher=South African Government|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612100516/http://www.info.gov.za/documents/constitution/93cons.htm|archive-date=12 June 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.issafrica.org/Pubs/ASR/6No2/VanStade.html|title=Rationalisation in the SANDF: The Next Challenge|access-date=23 June 2008|year=1997|author=L. B. van Stade|publisher=Institute for Security Studies|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316204323/https://issafrica.org/pubs/asr/6no2/vanstade.html|archive-date=16 March 2016 }}</ref> as a [[volunteer military]] composed of the former [[South African Defence Force]], the forces of the African nationalist groups ({{lang|xh|[[uMkhonto we Sizwe]]|italics=no}} and [[Azanian People's Liberation Army]]), and the former Bantustan defence forces.<ref name="constitution-1993-224" /> The SANDF is subdivided into four branches, the [[South African Army]], the [[South African Air Force]], the [[South African Navy]], and the [[South African Military Health Service]].<ref name="act-42-2002">{{cite web|url=http://www.info.gov.za/gazette/acts/2002/a42-02.pdf|title=Defence Act 42 of 2002|access-date=23 June 2008|date=12 February 2003|publisher=South African Government|page=18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624211758/http://www.info.gov.za/gazette/acts/2002/a42-02.pdf|archive-date=24 June 2008|url-status=dead }}</ref> The SANDF consists of around 75,000 [[Standing army|professional soldiers]] as of 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Career Descriptions – S. A. National Defence Force |url=https://www.bmdnet.co.za/S/S_%20A_%20National%20Defence%20Force.htm |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=www.bmdnet.co.za}}</ref> In recent years, the SANDF has become a major [[peacekeeping]] force in Africa,<ref name="dod-sep2005">{{cite web|url=http://www.dod.mil.za/media/media2005/sep/media_statements5sep2005.htm|title=Address by the Minister of Defence at a media breakfast at Defence Headquarters, Pretoria|access-date=23 June 2008|first=Mosiuoa|last=Lekota|date=5 September 2005|publisher=Department of Defence|archive-date=14 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214012305/http://www.dod.mil.za/media/media2005/sep/media_statements5sep2005.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> and has been involved in operations in Lesotho, the DRC,<ref name="dod-sep2005" /> and Burundi,<ref name="dod-sep2005" /> amongst others. It has also served in multinational [[United Nations peacekeeping|UN Peacekeeping forces]] such as the [[United Nations Force Intervention Brigade|UN Force Intervention Brigade]]. In 2022 the nation spent US$3.069 billion on its armed forces which is about 0.86% of the nation's entire GDP. Over the years, [[Military budget|defence expenditure]] has been cut as the nation currently faces no external military threats.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=Guy |date=2021-05-05 |title=SA defence budget falling to only .86% of GDP |url=https://www.defenceweb.co.za/featured/sa-defence-budget-falling-to-only-86-of-gdp/ |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=defenceWeb |language=en-ZA}}</ref>

The SANDF are often deployed in crime fighting and whenever the [[South African Police Service]] (SAPS) are no longer able to control the situation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SANDF deployment to prevent & combat crime; Update on security situation in the country; with Minister {{!}} PMG |url=https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/33303/ |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=pmg.org.za |language=en}}</ref> During the [[2021 South African unrest]], South Africa's worst violence since the end of [[apartheid]], saw the deployment of 25,000 troops, more than a dozen military helicopters and heavily armed vehicles deployed in the nation's [[KwaZulu-Natal]] and [[Gauteng]] provinces to assist the South African Police in ending the riots and looting, this was one of the nation's largest military deployments since 1994, the largest deployment of troops since the end of apartheid was in March 2020, when 70,000 troops were deployed to enforce the nation's strict lockdown laws to combat the spread of [[COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa|COVID-19]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-07-15 |title=25,000 troops deployed to quell South Africa riots, 117 dead |url=https://apnews.com/article/africa-south-africa-59f7817632563dcf19d7e212de8046c9 |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=AP NEWS |language=en}}</ref> South Africa has a lot of [[List of South African military bases|military bases]] distributed all over the nation, this includes two naval bases, nine air force bases and the army maintains large bases in all nine provinces of the country.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Husseini |first=Talal |date=2019-06-13 |title=Air force bases in South Africa: past and present operations |url=https://www.airforce-technology.com/features/air-force-bases-in-south-africa/ |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=Airforce Technology |language=en-US}}</ref>

The [[Defence industry of South Africa|South African Defence Industry]] is the most advanced on the African continent and one of the most advanced in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lionel |first=Ekene |date=2017-11-28 |title=Here are some of South African Made weapons |url=https://www.military.africa/2017/11/here-are-some-of-south-african-made-weapons/ |access-date=2023-03-09 |website=Military Africa |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=South Africa: An Overview of the Defence Industry |url=https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/sa/sa_july01ber01.html |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu}}</ref> As of 2020 South Africa is the world's 24th largest arms exporter, the only nation in Africa.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Arms exports by country, around the world |url=https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/arms_exports/ |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=TheGlobalEconomy.com |language=en}}</ref> The nation designs many types of weapons that range from armored fighting vehicles to [[ballistic missile]]s, notable South African-made weapons include the [[Ratel IFV]], the world's first wheeled [[infantry fighting vehicle]], South Africa also made its own [[attack helicopter]] known as the "[[Denel Rooivalk|Rooivalk]]" which is known to be one of the most advanced attack helicopters in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lionel |first=Ekene |date=2017-11-28 |title=Here are some of South African Made weapons |url=https://www.military.africa/2017/11/here-are-some-of-south-african-made-weapons/ |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=Military Africa |language=en-US}}</ref> In recent years a R16 billion ($1 billion) contract was signed with the local defence industry which aims to produce 244 units of [[Badger IFV]] for the SANDF.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=Guy |date=2020-11-06 |title=Hoefyster the biggest threat to Denel – Hlahla |url=https://www.defenceweb.co.za/featured/hoefyster-the-biggest-threat-to-denel-hlahla/ |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=defenceWeb |language=en-ZA}}</ref>

South Africa is the only African country to have successfully developed [[South Africa and weapons of mass destruction|nuclear weapons]]. It became the first country (followed by Ukraine) with nuclear capability to voluntarily renounce and dismantle its programme and in the process signed the [[Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons|Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty]] in 1991.<ref name="fas-ocp27" /> South Africa undertook a [[Nuclear programme of South Africa|nuclear weapons programme]] in the 1970s.<ref name="fas-ocp27">{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/nuke/guide/rsa/nuke/ocp27.htm|title=Out of (South) Africa: Pretoria's Nuclear Weapons Experience|access-date=23 June 2008|author=Roy E. Horton III|date=October 1999|publisher=USAF Institute for National Security Studies|archive-date=6 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506144626/http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/rsa/nuke/ocp27.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> South Africa is [[Vela incident|alleged to have conducted]] a nuclear test over the Atlantic in 1979,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB190/01.pdf|title=South Atlantic Nuclear Event (National Security Council, Memorandum)|access-date=23 June 2008|first=Christine|last=Dodson|date=22 October 1979|publisher=George Washington University under Freedom of Information Act Request|archive-date=29 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629172818/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB190/01.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> although this is officially denied; de Klerk maintained that South Africa had "never conducted a clandestine nuclear test."<ref name="South Africa comes clean">{{cite book|author=Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc.|title=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qQwAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3|access-date=26 June 2013|date=May 1993|publisher=Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc.|pages=3–4|chapter=South Africa comes clean|series=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Science and Public Affairs|issn=0096-3402|archive-date=11 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131011173919/http://books.google.com/books?id=qQwAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3|url-status=live}}</ref> Six nuclear devices were completed between 1980 and 1990 but all were dismantled by 1991.<ref name="South Africa comes clean" /> In 2017, South Africa signed the UN treaty on the [[Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons|Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-9&chapter=26&clang=_en|title=Chapter XXVI: Disarmament&nbsp;– No. 9 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons|publisher=United Nations Treaty Collection|date=7 July 2017|access-date=10 August 2019|archive-date=13 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813020027/https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-9&chapter=26&clang=_en|url-status=live }}</ref>