Project Remark was started in 1983, and followed on from Project Sireb which had yielded 3 different vehicle prototypes. The aim of both projects was to replace the Buffel.
For Project Remark, 10 companies were approached, of which 4 submitted prototypes of the concept vehicles. These 4 vehicles were given the numbers 31 to 34, and were tested against a Buffel used as a benchmark vehicle, given the number 35. Testing lasted a year.
Design priorities were protection of personnel, mobility, protection of engine and working components, and fighting ability.
Remark 31: A SAMCOR vehicle used the Ratel-type axels, leaf springs, and a manual gearbox. The engine and gearbox were situated in the middle of the vehicle below the crew seats, driving through a transfer box at the rear of the vehicle and through the rear axel to the front axel. The design rationale behind this arrangement was that as mines are mostly detonated by the front wheels, the cost per detonation would be cheaper as the main aggregates would remain unchanged. It had a combat mass of 14 820 kg, ground clearance of 420mm, and a height of 3 157mm. It had a semi-opened troop compartment with back to back seating.
Remark 32: A TFM vehicle was conventionally arranged with the engine (ADE 352Ti) and torque convertor in the front, and the ZF6WG180 gearbox situated in the middle of the vehicle. Mercedes Benz APL axels with parabolic leaf springs were fitted.
It had a combat mass of 12 430kg, ground clearance of 420mm and a height of 3 119mm. Troops sat back to back in a semi-opened compartment.
Remark 33: A Magnis vehicle made use of SAMIL-50 MkII components and was fitted with an ADE 409N engine coupled to a ZF S6-65 gearbox via a Z65 transfer case. Standard SAMIL-50 axels and suspension components were used. It had a combat mass of 15 000kg, ground clearance of 355mm and a height of 3 211mm. It had an enclosed troop compartment with back to back seating.
Remark 34: A Dorbyl/Sandock Austral vehicle made use of Ratel IFV components, whilst an ADE 407T engine and ZF S5-111GP manual gearbox were integrated into a powerpack that that was situated between the front and rear crew compartments. It had a combat mass of 15 900kg, ground clearance of 420mm, and a height of 2 988mm. It had an enclosed troop compartment with back to back seating.
The concept vehicles ranged from a relatively cheap , simple, practical vehicle in the form of what was called the Nyala (Remark 31) with leaf spring suspension, to a very expensive and technically much more complex Dorbyl/Sandock Austral (Remark 34) vehicle with coil spring mounted hub reduction axels similar to the Ratel. This vehicle went into limited production.
The vehicles were evaluated during a thorough 12 months of testing and evaluation, in which all of them performed very well., meeting most of the laid down requirements. It was eventually decided that the best features would be combined into a single vehicle, Thus Project Remark and Project Addax were combined into a new project called Project Veldskoen.
) their way into Army service. It was based on the automotive components of the Ford F250.
