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DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCEarch3
NEK INFORMATION ON SOUTH AFRICA'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM AHD OUTH AFRICAN-ISRAELI NUCLEAR AND MILITARY COOPERATION F)
Weaponsir.
weapons program, indicates that South
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Africa formallyeapons program Itstasked toun Implosion, .and "thermonuclear weapons designs. 9robable undergroundhe Kalahari Desert. The resulting international uproar reportedly caused Prime Minister vorster^alt to further nuclear weapons development. (S
He have had no direct indication of any subsequent activities in the weapons program. We believe, however, that South Africa alreadv either possessed nuclear devices or has all the cotoponants necessary to assemble such devices on very short
notice.
already "Known detailsg. r
Kalahari Test Site was intended for nuclear weapons testing.
South African scientistsield, had they tested, ofilotons.
Research onun-assembled device using two modified naval guns and on the firing system for an implosion device was conducted at the Somerset West explosives facility over the period at least3
South African scientists believed that nuclear testing was not required, because of the favorable nuclear weapon modelling results they had obtained. Possible nuclear-related high explosive testing also occurred in the Kalahaj
Plutonium separation piani was contemplated7 to provide South Africaomplete nuclear fuel cycle.
[South Africa's Valindaba uranium ehTichmentT planV has been producing highly enriched uranium We estimate that thia ia long enough to have produced highly enriched uranium for several nuclear weapons.
African and Israeli military officials hold meetingifour to six months to discuss the status of their military relationship, but conduct routine business through military attaches in their reapective embassies. South Africa supplied the Israelis with depleted uranium for anti-tank rounds, as well as natural uranium rods during the period.
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We believe that military cooperation between Isiael and South Africa has been extensive, necessitating regular contact between Israeli and South African military officials. Israeli officers are regularly invited to lecture in South Africa and South African military personnel have participatedatlet of Israeli training programs. The Intelligencelso quite intimate, as is symbolized by Tel Aviv's appointment9 of the former head of the Israeli intelligence service as Ambassador to Pretoria. The list of weapons of Israeli origin in the South Africanpatrol boats, Gabriel surface-to-surface missiles, Gallil rifles, and Uzitestimony to large-scale aras deals in the past. Delayed deliveries from agreements reached before the ON arms embargo7 and the South African use of Israeli middlemen to gain access to commercial international arms deals makes it difficult for us to assess current arms trading between tbe two countries. We have no hard evidence refuting Tel Aviv's official denials that it has violated the UN arms embargo.
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Other than South Africa's sale ofons of nominally
uranimum resources and enrichment technology, each side could contribute to the nuclear weapons program of the other
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know whether South Africa la still providing uranium. iu uri
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