The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF)

**Admin** Thu Oct 21 2010, 18:59

The RDF came out of the RPF, which was the rebel group that came from Uganda and fought its way into power. 4,000 deserted Uganda's army, then called The National Resistance Army (NRA) attacked Rwanda, subsequently toppling Juvenal Habyarimana's government. The CIA and Institute of Strategic Studies put its strength at between 80,000 and 100,000. The CIA rankings, the RDF as the 9th most powerful army in Africa.

The RDF is the only army in the region that can be compared to the UPDF in terms of combat experience. This is because in addition to battling their own internal insurgents it has also fought in the DRC.

The RDF comprises the Land Forces, the Mechanized Brigade and Air Force. Israeli offered to upgrade the RDF and establish an air force wing with Mig-21 captured during the Arab - Israeli war but the RDF opted for Gunship rather than Fighters. The RDF is armed with Russian and Chinese weapons. Among these include several Mi-17 and Mi-24 helicopters and Russian-made artillery.

The RDF thrives on total discipline. "They are organized for a cause and always fight to realize their objective," says a military analyst. Between 1999 and 2001, they fought several bruising battles against their mentors the UPDF in the Congo.

Guest Fri Oct 22 2010, 04:45

Kwani Mi-17 and Mi-35 ziko na offer it seems all countries in the region will operate them. Hata Rwanda pia?? Like a Star @ heaven

Sisal Makonge Fri Oct 22 2010, 19:33

I think Rwanda ili tupa mbao it should have taken the Israeli deal on the air force.

Guest Wed Oct 27 2010, 08:34

Who is this guy? Looks too young for a general
The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Art_ka10

Balozi Wed Oct 27 2010, 14:34

Rwanda has on several young Generals. i can't figure his name. still searching

mJESHI mMOJA Wed Oct 27 2010, 22:35

He is General James kabareba current Minister of defense

Risasi Thu Oct 28 2010, 04:50

He became a General in his early 40 ties. He was in charge of Operation Kimia II

Balozi Thu Oct 28 2010, 16:11

Pecking orders and brutality rise one to high ranks in these forces. Compare the guy with other generals in the 3 row first pictures .by the way The Hip helicopters have desert camo. a donation from an Arab army?

Risasi Thu Oct 28 2010, 16:47

These are actually brand new ones. In fact the Hips are Mi-17MD one of the latest models similar to the KAF ones. MI-17MD has a dolphin’s shaped nose which houses a radar. Older Mi-8 have Glass noses.

Sisal Makonge Fri Oct 29 2010, 16:44

Paul Kagame has transformed the rebels into a standard army
cheers

i think the cia should revisit the region again for better statistics

Sisal Makonge Sun Oct 31 2010, 16:42

I hear Rwanda has Special Forces and it contracts Ex-US personnel for training. But I highly doubt the standards

mJESHI mMOJA Thu Nov 04 2010, 11:27

Rwanda has a special force unit.

Special Forces training

hey Mr crane can UPDF match the above force

Flying Crane Thu Nov 04 2010, 11:51

mJESHI mMOJA wrote:Rwanda has a special force unit.

Special Forces training

hey Mr crane can UPDF match the above force

try another lie my friend. this not a rwandese army clip. rwandese talk in french and not english Evil or Very Mad

Risasi Fri Nov 05 2010, 19:14

Its certainly a Rwanda Mi-17 and the troops are Rwandese. The Mi-17s’ serial number at 1:07 min is RAF 1510. RAF stands for the Rwandan air force or the Royal air force . which of the two air forces is likely to be operating the Mi-17MD? The RAF 1510 is the same batch as the Mi17MD in this link

http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/mi8t/mi8t2.html

Olekoima Mon Nov 08 2010, 19:30

Well i think Rwanda was right to ditch the Israeli deal on the air force. A country this tiny with a modesty economy cannot afford an air force of expensive fighter jets. They are much better off with helicopters some of which could also serve as air-borne artillery capable of killing enemy tanks. Add these to sound air defense capability and you have an impressive defensive shield. This then frees funds for other needy military areas.

Guest Sun Mar 13 2011, 20:15

Hallo Fellas. I am here, if you will lemme in. Rwanda has no need for a SF - what would be the use of them? What they are doing off the choppers is simply basic skills on how to get out in a hurry - chopper abscalling skills isnt all of Special Forces training. And i agree with Olekoima, by the nature of her topography and the threat she faces, Rwanda would be better served by Choppers than the fast movers of Risasi-class.

koma.nyo Mon Mar 14 2011, 05:13

It sounds funny....!!! that those are not Rwandan troops? where else do you expect or thing such disciplined soldiers could be found? guys try to move and update yourselves on whats happening on the other part of the world! RDF is RDF and the number one battle harden force in Africa, with officers and other ranks that have fought wars right from Uganda's wakombozi along with Tanzanians in 1970's, NRA guirillar war 1981-86, post NRA take over insurgency in northern Uganda 1987-1990, RPF guarillar war 1990-1994, Rwandan insurgency, first Congo war, Second congo war, Crashing UPDF at Kisangani (Kazini running mad), war in Angola - Makera de zomba and the great tactical withdraw in modern mil history of Africa conducted by young General Kabarebe from Savimbi's held territory where he had secured an air strip after giving a brady nose to forces of Angola and in fact the raid at Kitona was the kind of Israel manuevres used at Entebbe. The fierce battles of Rwandan defense forces against four African Armies infact more than that because others were giving moral support i.e the battles of Shabunda-Kabalo-Kindu-Kisangani axis, Kalemie-Moba-Pepa-Pweto axis Rwandan troops defeated the Angola,DRC,Zimbabwe and Namibians in one of the modern battles Africa have ever faced with a combinations of all military approaches and tactics by use of Hels,Arty, tanks and infantry. Personnel am from Africa but the time i visited Rwanda on a study tour, thats when i believed that Rwanda has the most and strong Army in AFRICA.

kinox Mon Mar 14 2011, 05:31

Dear,buddy! sorry but your urgument is baseless for sure. Every country is entitled to secure and protect her national sovernity it doesn't matter what ever approach the government adopts. What will you have to say if tomorrow Rwanda launches a space shuttle? guy, don't be premitive to such extent! do you believe in globolization by the way? you should be happy once you see one of the countries like Rwanda that have been stuck with her history progressing now.

Big Mon Mar 14 2011, 05:37

Whats that Ole Nkarei saying? unless if he is saying that Rwanda should leave without an Army or a military force. Or he has other political ideology behind his thinking?

Olekoima Mon Mar 14 2011, 12:48

ole Nkarei wrote:Hallo Fellas. I am here, if you will lemme in. Rwanda has no need for a SF - what would be the use of them? What they are doing off the choppers is simply basic skills on how to get out in a hurry - chopper abscalling skills isnt all of Special Forces training. And i agree with Olekoima, by the nature of her topography and the threat she faces, Rwanda would be better served by Choppers than the fast movers of Risasi-class.

Welcome Ole Nkarei.

Guest Thu Mar 17 2011, 02:17

Big wrote:Whats that Ole Nkarei saying? unless if he is saying that Rwanda should leave without an Army or a military force. Or he has other political ideology behind his thinking?

You misunderstood me, and I don't wish to pick a quarrel with you. But come on, buddy. Do you imagine that your politico-military activities in the DRC-Kivus has escaped outside attention? Or that the story you've put out about FDLR to justify your rapacious activities in DRC has credibility outside Rwanda? The adage is that one needs no weapon unless one has made enemies that remains un-vanguished. For this reason, the RDF exists, and only for that. Your defense spending from your exchequer at just under US last year, compared with nearly US600Million by kDoD. And even that is just under 9% your GDP compared to under 0.4% Kenya, doesn't validate any claims to military ability nor the presence of Special Forces in any sense of that word. This contention is not politics, buddy.

mzalendo Thu Mar 17 2011, 09:29

Hey I can see the site has started boiling. Welcome new fellows to podium. About the above said,
@Sorry boys/koma.nyo
where does that leave us. Does Rwanda have a special force unit? What ever the magnitude might be? I really don’t see why it shouldn’t . what so special about having one? A training module can be adapted from soviet satellite states and that will do. I don’t know why Kenya feels it the only one permitted to have one in the region.

Guest Thu Mar 17 2011, 11:22

mzalendo wrote:Hey I can see the site has started boiling. Welcome new fellows to podium. About the above said,
@Sorry boys/koma.nyo
where does that leave us. Does Rwanda have a special force unit? What ever the magnitude might be? I really don’t see why it shouldn’t . what so special about having one? A training module can be adapted from soviet satellite states and that will do. I don’t know why Kenya feels it the only one permitted to have one in the region.

The men of Special Forces are not a bunch of Altar Boys singing halleluhia on national holiday parades before an admiring population. These are killers, cold and savage, plain and simple!!. If you consider that the Armed Forces is (as indeed are all other representative bodies of the nation) a microcosm of a Nation, being founded on the civilian population of that nation, then there must exist National Justifications for a licensed close-knit organised killer machine in uniform carrying out unquestioningly killings on behalf of the population of that Nation. It requires a paradigm re-definition of the moral tenets of that Nation, and which eventually defines that Nation in real terms. See the difference between Spartan and Athens of olden days in their national psyches. In today’s contemporary history, American society has expressed not one collective regret/guilt at the thousands of Iraquis murdered in the past ten years, nor are they likely to as they continue this massacre of hapless Afghan civilians. It is not like comparisons of who has a bigger ‘’di..k’’, nor who can afford SF programs – lostsa rich countries have not a man in Military SF formation beyond the civilian quick response teams of Police SWAT, SF is a deliberate recognition of deadly low-grade unconventional threat to a Nation, that demands military response on equally defined morality to the threat. Any Nation that employs SF must be ready to use them, and ready for the consequences of an erosion of its collective moral fabric. Because this thing aggravates on itself, gaining a life of itself. So if RDF builds a SF capacity in the true sense of that definition, in response to their favourite boogie FDLR, it is certain their boogie will respond similarly if only to stay alive. I tell you, RDF has trained a militarised SWAT team (RDF has expansive civilian policing functions in Rwanda) and not a SF units.

scratch

koma.nyo Wed Mar 23 2011, 09:11

Oooo…..you not serious boy! Open your ears and I tell you quietly! the hero is known for achievements; the celebrity for well-knowns! And a hero reveals the possibilities of human nature. Though celebrity reveals the possibilities of the press and media, remember that celebrities are people who make news, but heroes are people who make history and that is Rwanda Defense Forces!!! Think twice and tell the world what kind of history your military has on record…..I know deeply, you will be shameful of yourself and your own people. And that that is exactly why you are talking all those unprofessional biased and no-sense to such strong army of its own Nation….! And that’s why you people will not develop other than being victimized by the west and the rest….and that’s why you people holds Dr, PhD….but still you look not beyond your noise…! Never waste jealousy on a real man because it is the imaginary man that supplants us all in the long run and by the way the envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win. What I can tell you is that if malice or envy were tangible and had a shape, it would be the shape of a boomerang. Hi, buddy a good battle plan that you act on today can be better than a perfect one tomorrow, so cool down with your baseless arguments thinking that you have been smart…and convincing. Any way the greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too so I could comment much as if you will pay me to make you understand realities. it is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Guest Wed Mar 23 2011, 12:34

koma.nyo wrote:Oooo…..you not serious boy! Open your ears and I tell you quietly! the hero is known for achievements; the celebrity for well-knowns! And a hero reveals the possibilities of human nature. Though celebrity reveals the possibilities of the press and media, remember that celebrities are people who make news, but heroes are people who make history and that is Rwanda Defense Forces!!! Think twice and tell the world what kind of history your military has on record…..I know deeply, you will be shameful of yourself and your own people. And that that is exactly why you are talking all those unprofessional biased and no-sense to such strong army of its own Nation….! And that’s why you people will not develop other than being victimized by the west and the rest….and that’s why you people holds Dr, PhD….but still you look not beyond your noise…! Never waste jealousy on a real man because it is the imaginary man that supplants us all in the long run and by the way the envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win. What I can tell you is that if malice or envy were tangible and had a shape, it would be the shape of a boomerang. Hi, buddy a good battle plan that you act on today can be better than a perfect one tomorrow, so cool down with your baseless arguments thinking that you have been smart…and convincing. Any way the greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too so I could comment much as if you will pay me to make you understand realities. it is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Guest Thu Mar 24 2011, 11:02

Bwana Komanyo. Beyond some incomprehensible philosophy, there is no relevant substance in your latest post,soldier. And I will not soil my Uniform exchanging ill-tempered comments with you. But am very willing to be educated by you and anyone else on Military matters, which infact is my career preoccupation and expertise. Iam not some civilian military buff, and I know my stuff. Lets start with how your RDF manages to best Armed force on a fraction of the Military Budget of even your fractious neighbor Uganda ( US70 against Uganda's US210) in year 2009. The truth is that the RDF has never transited from the ragtag motley it was as the RPF, and still defines itself as the Militarized voice of the ruling political class projecting a monopoly to Violence in Rwanda. It is a poorly organized, poor structured, poorly led infantry grouping with little equipment beyond the standard-issue Assault rifle. It has no Offensive Air nor Air-interdiction Airwing, lacks credible Anti-air abilities, little Strategic Air defenses, employes primitive troop movement abilities typified by the forced foot matches it is famous for, has no rapid deployment / force-projection abilities of any sort even within Rwanda, little battle-field air suppression beyond archaic AA batteries, no armored force beyond those 11pcs T-60 of unknown mechanical condition, no anti-armored capacity beyond the puny RPG-7. The average education levels in rank-and-file are way below the African Mean, while its Unit leadership at NCO levels incompetent and ill-trained. The Officer-Corps is heavily polluted by Political shenanigans of the Ruling Class and consequently dysfunctional being top-heavy and un-meritious. it's Infantry field tactics are outdated in curricula and equipment, while the Officer Schools are very basic and unsuited for modern warfare. The RDF is the largest public employer in Rwanda, responding to the demographic dynamics post Genocide of country virtually destroyed and with little economic activities taking root. I can go on and on. Now brother, without insults and false bravado, would you care to disprove point by point the above postulations? Your audience is not some poor villagers in Gisenyi or in Remera, but fellow soldiers on the blog>

tempest Wed Aug 24 2011, 00:05

koma.nyo wrote: Rwandan troops defeated the Angola,DRC,Zimbabwe and Namibians in one of the modern battles Africa have ever faced with a combinations of all military approaches and tactics by use of Hels,Arty, tanks and infantry. Personnel am from Africa but the time i visited Rwanda on a study tour, thats when i believed that Rwanda has the most and strong Army in AFRICA.

Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia went to DRC to keep Kabila in power ... ... Rwanda went to remove Kabila! You know what? ... ... Kabila IS STILL IN POWER! You don't need a lot of brains to figure out who achieved their objectives, i.e. won.

Rwanda had full American backing, watch this, just from 14:30 to about 15:40 https://youtu.be/vLV9szEu9Ag?t=14m28s . In fact in some cases sophisticated equipment for Rwanda was in some cases operated by black Americans. See here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/foreign-troops-under-siege-as-war-rages-in-congo-four-months-after-peace-deal-739063.html

jasiri Fri Aug 26 2011, 19:05

Thank you Tempest, very interesting vido

tempest Fri Aug 26 2011, 20:38

jasiri wrote:Thank you Tempest, very interesting vido

You are welcome sir!

Flying Crane Sat Aug 27 2011, 18:48

@tempest its delighted to know where you stand .

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