Editing Zambian Defence Force (section)

===Background and independence===
The Zambian Defence Force had its roots in the [[Northern Rhodesia Regiment]], a [[Multiracial people|multi-ethnic]] military unit which was raised by the British colonial government and had served with distinction during [[World War II]].<ref name="Ourselves" /> In 1960, the constituent colonies of [[Northern Rhodesia]], [[Southern Rhodesia]], and [[Nyasaland]] were amalgamated into a self-governing [[British Empire|British]] dependency known as the [[Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland]].<ref name="Command">{{cite thesis|degree=MsC|title=Implications for a Non-Unified Command System and the Need For a Unified Command System in Zambia|last=Shapwaya|first=Moses|url=http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA623984|publisher=[[United States Army Command and General Staff College]]|year=2013|access-date=27 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170626012319/http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA623984|archive-date=26 June 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> When the federation was dissolved three years later, the assets and personnel of its armed forces were integrated with those of its successor states, including Northern Rhodesia, which subsequently gained independence as Zambia.<ref name="Command" /> For example, Zambia received half the federal [[armored car (military)|armoured car squadron]] as well as some light patrol aircraft.<ref name="trade">{{cite web |url=http://armstrade.sipri.org/armstrade/page/trade_register.php |title=Trade Registers |publisher=Armstrade.sipri.org |access-date=2013-06-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414022558/http://armstrade.sipri.org/armstrade/page/trade_register.php |archive-date=2010-04-14 |url-status=live }}</ref> Zambia also inherited the command structures of the [[Northern Rhodesia]] Regiment as well as the Northern Rhodesian Air Wing, which formed the basis for the new Zambian Army and Zambian Air Force, respectively.<ref name="Command" />

Relations almost immediately soured between Zambia and Southern Rhodesia, now known simply as ''Rhodesia'', which had [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence|issued its own unilateral declaration of independence]] (UDI) in 1965.<ref name="Studies2004">{{cite book|last1=Ashton|first1=S R|last2=Roger-Louis|first2=Wm|title=East of Suez and the Commonwealth 1964–1971: Europe, Rhodesia, Commonwealth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=owvXW06nujsC&pg=PA277|access-date=17 January 2013|series=British Documents on the End of Empire|volume=Series A Vol 5 Part II|year=2004|publisher=The Stationery Office|isbn=9780112905837|pages=221–222|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140628135441/http://books.google.com/books?id=owvXW06nujsC&pg=PA277|archive-date=28 June 2014|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Reports that Rhodesian security forces had occupied [[Kariba Dam]] prompted Zambian President [[Kenneth Kaunda]] to mobilise the ZDF for the first time and deploy troops to the border.<ref name="Studies2004"/> The ZDF was withdrawn when Kaunda received a guarantee that Zambia's supply of Kariba power would not be interrupted.<ref name=Wilkenfeld>{{cite book|author1-link=Michael Brecher|author2-link=Jonathan Wilkenfeld|last1=Brecher|first1=Michael|last2=Wilkenfeld|first2=Jonathan|title=A Study of Crisis|date=1997|pages=[https://archive.org/details/studyofcrisis0000brec/page/105 105–107]|publisher=University of Michigan Press|location=Ann Arbor|isbn=978-0472087075|url=https://archive.org/details/studyofcrisis0000brec/page/105}}</ref> Nevertheless, military tension between the two nations remained high, and border incidents resulting in civilian deaths occurred.<ref name=Tordoff>{{cite book|last=Tordoff|first=William|title=Politics in Zambia|date=1974|pages=[https://archive.org/details/politicsinzambia0000unse/page/358 358–362]|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=North Manchester|isbn=978-0719005510|url=https://archive.org/details/politicsinzambia0000unse/page/358}}</ref> In November 1966, Rhodesian troops fired across the border and killed a Zambian woman on the north bank of the [[Zambezi River]].<ref name=Tordoff/> In January 1973, Zambian troops fired on a South African police patrol boat on the Zambezi.<ref name=Tordoff/> Shortly afterwards, Defence Minister [[Alexander Grey Zulu|Grey Zulu]] ordered that the ZDF return to the border in force.<ref name=Tordoff/> Later in the month Kaunda brought the first of several complaints before the [[United Nations Security Council]] charging that Rhodesian security forces were violating Zambia's sovereignty and territorial integrity with South African support.<ref name=Tordoff/> Tensions flared again when Zambian troops fired across the border and killed two Canadian tourists on the Rhodesian side of [[Victoria Falls, Zambia|Victoria Falls]] in May 1973.<ref name=Scully>{{cite book|last=Scully|first=Pat|title=Exit Rhodesia|date=1984|page=162|publisher=Cottswold Press|location=Ladysmith|isbn=978-0620078023}}</ref>

The increasing prospect of war with Rhodesia posed several unique security dilemmas for the ZDF.<ref name=Tordoff/> Firstly, Zambia lacked the manpower or conventional hardware necessary to provide a suitable deterrent to a Rhodesian incursion.<ref name=Tordoff/> It also remained dependent on a relatively small pool of white senior officers and technical personnel.<ref name=Tordoff/> After 1967 Kaunda's government began replacing them with foreign officers on contract, ostensibly to minimise the potential for conflicts of loyalty.<ref name=Tordoff/> Between 1967 and 1970 the majority of officers in the ZDF were seconded from the [[British Army]].<ref name=Tordoff/> In 1971, the ZDF was finally prepared to appoint its first black army and air force commanders.<ref name="Command"/> Due to the white community's close ties with Rhodesia and South Africa, white Zambians were subsequently barred from voluntary enlistment and granted a blanket exemption from conscription.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVNBAQAAIAAJ&q=%22white+Zambians%22|title=Southern Africa Political & Economic Monthly|date=Feb 16, 1994|publisher=Southern African Political Economy Series (SAPES) Publications Project|access-date=Feb 16, 2019|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Around September 1967, Kaunda made two requests to the United States for equipment for the Zambian Army, including long-range [[missile]] systems, but was rebuffed.<ref name=Atomic>{{cite book|last=DeRoche|first=Andrew|editor1-last=Gewald|editor1-first=Jan-Bert|editor2-last=Hinfelaar|editor2-first=Marja|editor3-last=Macola|editor3-first=Giacomo|title=One Zambia, Many Histories: Towards a History of Post-colonial Zambia|date=2008|pages=86–115|publisher=Koninklihje Brill NV|location=Leiden, Netherlands|isbn=978-9004165946}}</ref> More successful were Zambia's attempts to acquire its first combat aircraft, a number of [[Aermacchi MB-326]] and [[SIAI-Marchetti SF.260]]s sourced from Italy;<ref name="trade"/> the first black Zambian Air Force pilots were trained by Italian instructors between 1966 and 1969.<ref name=Atomic/> Italy also sold the ZDF helicopters and towed artillery.<ref name="trade"/>