REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

MILITARY & NAVAL FLAGS & ENSIGNS

1994-2003

Notes

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and its branches have their own service flags that are variants of the South African national flag. All employ the SA national flag as a canton and all except the naval ensign display the relevant service insignia in the lower fly. Field colors are green for the SANDF, dark orange for the SA Army, light blue for the SA Air Force and maroon for the SA Medical Service. (The SAMS is a separate branch which provides medical support to all the other services.) The naval ensign is white with a green St. George-style cross, and the naval color (for ceremonial use ashore) is the same with the addition of the SA Navy badge in the lower fly. The SA national flag is used as the naval jack.

All the service flags adopted in 1994-1995 were identical to those used previously, except for the substitution of the 1994 national flag for the 1928 national flag in the canton. The previous naval ensign displayed the SA Navy crest in the lower fly; this was deleted from the 1994 ensign but retained in a somewhat different form for the ceremonial naval color. In 2001 new service insignia began to be introduced, and these have now replaced the previous designs, which were carried over from the days of white minority rule. The first flag to carry the new insignia was the 2002-03 Army flag, which seems to have been an interim design with the insignia on a conventional shield. In 2003, a revised Army flag was adopted, featuring the nine-pointed badge that has now become standard for all SA military branch insignia. Other flags were changed at the same time.

Naval rank flags are of the British pattern with green rather than red crosses and disks. The air force rank flags used up to 2003 were light blue with the SAAF insignia in the upper hoist.

Flag Proportions: All SA military flags and ensigns (with the exception of the commodore's broad pennant) have 2:3 proportions.

Image Added August 2004

Naval Color

SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE
 

SOUTH AFRICAN NAVY
 

NATIONAL FLAG & NAVAL JACK
 

 . . . . .     

Left: NAVAL ENSIGN                    Right: NAVAL COLOR
 

NAVAL RANK FLAGS
 

. . . . .     

Left: ADMIRAL                    Right: VICE-ADMIRAL
 

REAR-ADMIRAL
 

SOUTH AFRICAN ARMY
 

. . . . .     

Left: 1994-2002                    Right: 2002-03
 

SOUTH AFRICAN AIR FORCE & MEDICAL SERVICE
 

. . . . .     

Left: SOUTH AFRICAN AIR FORCE     Right: SOUTH AFRICAN MEDICAL SERVICE
 

AIR FORCE RANK FLAGS
 

. . . . .     

Left: GENERAL OFFICER                    Right: FIELD OFFICER
 

UNIT COMMANDER

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