SA Armour Museum

Crew: 4 

Combat Mass: 52,5 mt 

Armament: 20 Pr (84 mm) MkI/I Gun; 7,62 mm Browning Machine-gun; 2 x Smoke Grenade Dischargers; 20 Pr mm Ammunition: APCBC/T; APDS/T; HE; Canister; Smoke; 

Engine: Continental - AVI-1790-8;12 Cyl; 90 V; Air Cooled ; Fuel Injection; Gasoline; 604 kW (810 hp) at 2 800 r/min 

Transmission: Allison - CD-850-5; Semi-Automatic with Torque Converter Low; High; Reverse and Neutral Turn Combination of Steering and Brakes 

Speed: Road 50 km/h - Cross Country 

Operating Range: 25 km/h Road 90 km - Cross Country 40 km 

 

 

During 1968 the first attempt to overcome the problems encountered in South Africa with the Centurion tank (over-heating, spares etc.) was not made easy as South Africa had been placed under a United Nations arms embargo. The first modification upgrading took place with the installation of a 372 kW (500 hp), V12, Detroit diesel, model V71 two-stroke diesel engine. The second modification/upgrading took place in 1973 with the fitting of a Continental fuel-injection engine and a three-speed Allison Semi-Automatic transmission. Modifications took place at 61 Base Workshop, Pretoria, in-corporation with Armscor. This project was registered as ‘Project Skokiaan’ and three prototypes were built. Evaluation trials of these three prototype Centurions took place in Walvis Bay Namibia (SWA), and in Bloemfontein in 1973. The upgrading was not successful as the existing fuel tank layout could not cater for the high fuel consumption of the engine resulting in a poor operating range. A grand total of eleven tanks were modified. Nine were deployed on the Angolan Border in 1976. The project was terminated in 1974 with the start of ‘Project Semels’. The ‘Skokiaan’ on display is the original first prototype to be built (R90587).