---
tags:
  - Organization
  - Private
  - SouthAfrica
  - ArmsManufacturer
category: "Private Organization"
summary: "ARMSCOR (South African Arms Corporation) is the government weapons manufacturer of South Africa. It played a significant role in the international arms trade, particularly in its dealings with Carlos Cardoen and Gerald Bull, and its involvement in..."
start: 1968
location: "Pretoria, South Africa"
---
[[ARMSCOR]] (South African Arms Corporation) is the government weapons manufacturer of [[South Africa]]. It played a significant role in the international arms trade, particularly in its dealings with [[Carlos Cardoen]] and [[Gerald Bull]], and its involvement in supplying [[Iraq]].[^1]

In 1979, [[Carlos Cardoen]] obtained a brokering license from [[ARMSCOR]] after being rejected by [[Israel]]. This allowed him to begin his work as an arms producer and broker.[^1]

[[ARMSCOR]] collaborated with [[Carlos Cardoen|Cardoen]] in selling arms to [[Iraq]]. [[Alan Sanders]] of [[ITICO]] provided technology for cluster bombs to Cardoen, which were then produced with a covert [[United States|U.S.]] license.[^1]

In 1983, [[ARMSCOR]] contracted [[Gerald Bull]] for his "supergun" artillery project, following an introduction by [[Mark Thatcher]] and [[Pieter Van Der Westhuizen|Gen. Pieter Van Der Westhuizen]], chief of [[South African Defense Force]].[^1]

[[ARMSCOR]] was represented at a meeting in [[Santiago]], [[Chile]], in late 1986, where [[United States|U.S.]] officials, including [[Robert Gates]], reaffirmed their intention to maintain arms channels to [[Iraq]] through [[South Africa]] and [[Chile]].[^1]

In late 1988, [[Pieter Van Der Westhuizen|Gen. Pieter Van Der Westhuizen]] informed [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] that [[South Africa]] had stopped the flow of technology to [[Iraq]], claiming it was due to a decision to resume nuclear cooperation with [[Israel]]. However, [[Israel|Israeli]] intelligence later confirmed that while [[South Africa]] was not directly dealing with [[Iraq]], it was involved with [[Chile]], which continued to supply [[Iraq]] through the [[Carlos Cardoen|Cardoen]] network. The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] reportedly used [[ARMSCOR]] to facilitate the transfer of nuclear technology to [[Iraq]].[^1]

### Footnotes
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992.