The South African National Defence Force's rank system is largely based on the British system, with the Air Force sharing the Army rank titles. Rank titles changed over time as did the insignia. In 2002 the South African Air Force redesigned its insignia completely, while keeping the Army titles.
During the apartheid era, the South African Army's rank structure was shared between the Army, Air Force and SAMS with some small differences. In the Air Force a staff sergeant was a flight sergeant for example. The Air Force ranks had a blue background and the NCO stripes were blue. For SAMS the ranks had a maroon background.
Officers
Other ranks
Note: in the artillery and anti-aircraft corps, the corporal and lance-corporal are called "bombardier" and "lance-bombardier". The private is called a "gunner" in the artillery and anti-aircraft, a "rifleman" in the infantry, a "trooper" in the armoured corps, a "sapper" in the engineers, a "signalman" in the signals corps, and a "scout" in the intelligence corps.
However they would retain the rank of WO1, while wearing unique rank insignia. To distinguish the posting different colour backgrounds were used; for example, red for regimental sergeant major and black for command sergeant major. The sergeant major of each arm of service wore insignia topped by the arms of their respective arm of service. In 2008 the warrant officer ranks were expanded to make each substantive rank a formal rank.
Army
The SA Army was formed in 1912 as the Union Defence Force. It was given its present name in 1951. The rank system is derived from that of the British Army. The ranks of General Officers changed in September 2003 when the rank previously called Brigadier became known as Brigadier General.
Officers
Warrant officers
Other ranks
Air Force
The SA Air Force was formed in 1920. Unlike many other Commonwealth air forces, it had army style rank system. In 2002 the Air Force officer rank insignia structure was changed from one which was shared with the Army to a new pattern based on stripes. The Air Force stated that this was "in order to bring it more in line with international forms of rank". The army-style rank titles were retained. Note: The Rank of General is only used when the Chief of the Air Force is also the Chief of the Defence Force which has occurred on occasion in the past.
Officers
Warrant officers
Other ranks
Navy
The SA Navy was originally two separate organisations, namely the South African Division of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and the South African Naval Service. They amalgamated in 1942 to form the SA Naval Forces, which were renamed "SA Navy" in 1951. The rank system is based on that of the Royal Navy. The ranks of Flag Officers changed in 1997 when the rank previously called Commodore became known as Rear Admiral.
The South African Military Health Service uses the Army rank system. There is a differentiation in that the rank insignia is displayed on a red background as opposed to the army, which is displayed on an olive background.
