SA had offensive nuclear capability in the early 1960s. Israel was connected.
Thanks... these are things I did not realize. my education continues....
SA poped a nuke test (mid atlantic) in the early mid 70's that was never able to be 100% confirmed by US intel and there was a political move by the Ruskies that stopped a test in the kalihari desert via prez peanut in 75.
OOPS off by a couple of years....
In 1976, the Soviet Union apparently became sufficiently alarmed at the progress of the South African nuclear program to discuss it with the United States. According to Deiter Gerhardt, a German national living in South Africa who spied for the Soviet Union, Soviet officials asked for U.S. cooperation in halting the program. One of the options allegedly considered by the Soviets was a preemptive strike on the Y-Plant. U.S. officials reportedly rejected this option.[4]
One year later, in 1977, the AEB completed manufacture of South Africa's first full-scale nuclear explosive device based on a gun-type design. The device did not contain a highly enriched uranium core, however, because the Y-plant had not yet produced a sufficient quantity of HEU. The device was loaded with a depleted uranium core in preparation for a "cold" test planned for August 1977 at a test site in the Kalahari Desert. The AEB planned to conduct an actual test using a HEU core in 1978. However, before any tests could be conducted, a Soviet surveillance satellite discovered the Kalahari test site.[5] After a second Soviet satellite completed several passes over the test site, the Soviet Union informed the United States that South Africa was making preparations for a nuclear test. Under international pressure, South Africa subsequently covered the test shafts with concrete slabs and abandoned the site.[6]
On 22 September 1979, a U.S. Vela surveillance satellite detected a "brief, intense, double flash of light near the southern tip of Africa." Due to its characteristics, U.S. officials estimated that the flash could have resulted from the test of a nuclear device with a yield of 2 to 4 kilotons. South Africa emerged as the prime suspect, but the South African government denied that it had conducted a nuclear test. Subsequently, noting that South Africa did not supply a complete nuclear device with HEU until November 1979, AEC head Waldo Stumpf said that "this should put to rest speculations as to whether South Africa was responsible for the 'double flash' over the South Atlantic Ocean." Other speculation alleged that Israel had conducted a nuclear test, either alone or in conjunction with South Africa.[7]
Sometime in the late-1970s though, South Africa conducted a test of a gun-type device at Building 5000 at the Pelindaba facility. "For a brief moment, the HEU [went] critical, providing confidence that the device would work as predicted by theoretical calculations". After this first test, the device was never again loaded with HEU.[8]