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Beta Theta Pi

Beta Theta Pi (ΒΘΠ), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, as of August 2023 it consists of 142 active chapters and colonies in the United States and Canada. More than 219,000 members have been initiated worldwide and there are currently around 8,500 undergraduate members. Beta Theta Pi is the oldest of the three fraternities that formed the Miami Triad, along with Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi.

History

Students at Miami University at the time of Beta's founding had previously formed two rival literary societies: The Erodelphian and Union Literary Society. A student of the school, John Reily Knox, began to gather members of both the Erodelphian and Union Literary Societies with the goal of creating a new fraternity. In a letter that he wrote four years after the founding of the Alpha chapter, Knox said that other fraternities being formed possessed "many objectionable features which rendered them liable to be used as engines of evil as well as instruments of good."

The fraternity was formally founded on August 8, 1839, by eight male students of Miami University.

Purpose
The five core values espoused by Beta Theta Pi are cultivation of intellect, responsible conduct, mutual assistance, integrity, and trust. These are the underpinnings for their mission statement to "develop men of principle for a principled life." In 1879, Beta Theta Pi became the first college fraternity to publish its constitution. The fraternity continues to guard certain secrets about membership.

Men of Principle initiative
In August 1996, St. Lawrence University Chairman and Beta Theta Pi alumnus E.B. Wilson wrote a letter to the editor of The Beta Theta Pi magazine challenging the general fraternity to undertake a project to reverse the emerging Greek and Beta culture, which he felt was not in line with their core values.

In response to Wilson and a number of institutional difficulties, the Men of Principle initiative was started during the 1998–99 academic year. Three chapters, Nebraska, Georgia and Pennsylvania, were used as pilot chapters for the new program. After this first year of piloting, the Men of Principle initiative was officially introduced at the 160th General Convention in Oxford, in 1999.

According to the fraternity, before Men of Principle, the fraternity's average chapter GPA was just above a 2.8. In 2019, the fraternity's GPA rose to 3.251 – an all-time high. The average chapter size in 2019 was 72 men, compared to 48.9 in 1997. In 1997, there was an average of two advisors per chapter, while as of 2019 there was an average of seven advisors working with each one of the chapters. Beta received some backlash for the initiative. Between the beginning of the program in 1998 and 2013, its international headquarters closed 85 chapters for failing to comply with the Men of Principle initiative.

As part of the Men of Principle initiative, Beta runs several leadership programs for undergraduate members and alumni. As of 2019, approximately 25,000 members graduated from one of the fraternity's leadership programs.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms of Beta Theta Pi includes the Beta dragon, which, according to the symbolism guide, differs from other artistic or historical concepts of dragons as it is not intended to represent evil or a threat. The fraternity explains it represents courage and respect, depicted as "...calm and caring, rather than [as] many other dragons that are made to seem threatening or aggressive." In the coat of arms, the Beta dragon is placed on top of a shield; the shield is emblazoned with the three stars of Beta Theta Pi and other stylizations from heraldry. Under that shield is a golden banner upon which is one of Beta's mottos "__kai__".

Flag
The flag of Beta Theta Pi similarly displays several symbols of the fraternity. The flag includes three horizontal stripes that are blue, then white and then blue. The flag shows three five-pointed stars that are made to form an equilateral triangle. The Beta dragon is set within this equilateral triangle.

Flower
Beta has designated as its official flower the Beta rose. The fraternity explains that "this light pink rose was officially made the flower of Beta Theta Pi in 1889 at the fraternity's semi-centennial convention. The Beta rose was chosen to be the flower by a Beta sweetheart named Leila McKee who had many relations to Beta throughout her life. Her father was a Beta, her brother was a Beta, and she eventually became a Beta sweetheart herself. This rose was accepted by the fraternity because of the purity and beauty that it held."

Badge
The badge of Beta Theta Pi was designed to be worn by members of the association under their original constitution that was produced and published in 1839. Over time, the badge's look has been changed multiple times, but the badge that is currently used today was made by Major George M. Chandler, Michigan 1898. The badge is an 8-sided shield of black and gold and it contains the three stars of the fraternity on the top of the shield and under that is a diamond which is surrounded by a golden laurel. Under the diamond is the capital Greek letters for Beta Theta Pi and below those letters are the Greek characters that represent 1839, the year of the fraternity's founding. Members of Beta wear this badge over their heart to be "in a manner befitting the honor and dignity to which it is entitled".

The pledge pin is a pin that is worn by pledges of the fraternity. The pledge pin looks similar to the Beta badge, it is an 8-sided shield of white and gold that has 3 golden 5-pointed stars running diagonally across it.

Colors
The colors that represent Beta Theta Pi are delicate shades of pink and blue. These colors were chosen in the late 1800's when many fraternities were deciding what colors they wanted to represent them. Delicate shades of pink and blue were chosen for Beta because of their sensitivity to stains. This was important to the fraternity because being sensitive to stains represented the purity of these colors. Many times people have tried to change the official Beta colors to darker shades of blue and red but these ideas have always been turned down quickly.

Poem
Beta Theta Pi uses the poem The Bridge Builder as a symbol of its Alumni Giving Program.

Notable members

 * Richard Lugar (Denison University, 1954), US Senator
 * Mike Schmidt (Ohio University, 1971), baseball player for the Philadelphia Phillies and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee
 * William "Adam West" Anderson (Whitman College, 1951), actor who played the first Batman
 * Bill Nelson (University of Florida, 1965), congressman and administrator for NASA in 2021
 * Bruce Nordstrom (University of Washington, 1955), CEO of Nordstrom
 * Donald Bren (University of Washington, 1955), Chairman and Owner of the Irvine Company
 * Bill Bowerman (University of Oregon, 1933), Founder of Nike
 * Donald Petersen (University of Washington, 1946), CEO of the Ford Motor Company
 * Shahid Khan (University of Illinois, 1971), Owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Fulham FC, AEW
 * John Wooden (Purdue University, 1932), Men's basketball coach at UCLA
 * Don Coryell (University of Washington, 1947), Coach of the San Diego Chargers
 * Chris DeWolfe (University of Washington, 1988), Founder of Myspace.com, CEO of SGN Games
 * Sam Walton (University of Missouri, 1940), Founder of Walmart
 * Dan Carney (Wichita State University, 1953), Founder of Pizza Hut
 * Charles G. Koch (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1957), Founder and CEO of Koch Industries

Local chapter or member misconduct
As part of a multi-year dispute over co-ed student housing issues, the Beta Theta Pi chapter at Wesleyan University had been refusing access to campus security personnel. In March 2010, Wesleyan issued a warning to students to avoid the chapter house. In October of that year a freshman was raped by a non-member, non-student at a Beta Theta Pi Halloween party. The rapist was arrested, and both the fraternity and the university reached an out-of-court settlement with the victim in 2014. The dispute over campus housing was later resolved.

In 2012, a lawsuit by a female student at Wesleyan University accused the university's chapter of sexual assault and called its fraternity house a "rape factory" due to the predatory practices present and constant sexual assaults of young women visiting the house.

In March 2013, the Carnegie Mellon University chapter was suspended following a police investigation of sexually explicit videos and photographs of female students circulating among members.

In February 2014, the fraternity's Alpha chapter at Miami University was closed in response to alcohol and hazing incidents. The Alpha chapter was reestablished in 2017, and in the year 2018, the chapter celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the fraternity house, a $5 million renovation. In October 2014, the University of Washington chapter was suspended by the university following hazing allegations. The chapter was disbanded by the fraternity a month later, following an investigation. In December 2014, the University of California - Santa Barbara chapter was shut down after years of violations and suspensions. Two pledges were sent to the hospital due to hazing which prompted the fraternity's national office to finally close the chapter.

In 2016, the University of Oregon chapter was disbanded due to hazing and other "high-risk" activities.

In 2017, the Pennsylvania State University chapter was permanently disbanded due to the death of a pledge, Tim Piazza, related to hazing and alcohol abuse. Piazza was forced to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and fell down the stairs into the basement, where he eventually fell into a coma and died. The members of the fraternity had purposefully destroyed video footage of what happened in the basement. Eighteen members of the fraternity were arrested and charged for his wrongful death. The former chapter faces more than 147 charges, including involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence.

In 2018, the Washington and Lee University chapter was suspended for four years for multiple hazing violations. Members living in the fraternity house were forced to find housing elsewhere.

In 2019, the Auburn University chapter was disbanded once it was reported to the university that there was a culture of physically abusing pledges and forcing them into servitude for initiated members.

In 2020, the University of Arizona chapter was suspended for hazing and improper alcohol use violations.

In 2022, the North Carolina State University chapter was pressured by the university to disband due to multiple hazing and alcohol violations.

title: Beta Theta Pi


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Ratel IFV

The Ratel is a South African infantry fighting vehicle. It was the first wheeled infantry fighting vehicle to enter service worldwide and was built on a modified MAN truck chassis. The Ratel was designed in response to a South African Army specification for a light armoured vehicle suited to the demands of rapid offensives, providing maximum firepower and strategic mobility to mechanised infantry units intended to operate across the vast distances of Southern Africa. Primarily envisaged in SADF doctrine as a vehicle that could deliver mechanised infantry and supporting fire to tanks in conventional warfare, it was also anticipated that the Ratel could form the centrepiece for semi-independent battlegroups where logistics or politics precluded the use of tanks. The Ratel was a simple, economical design which helped reduce the significant logistical commitment necessary to keep heavier combat vehicles operational in undeveloped regions. It was generally regarded as an influential concept which incorporated a number of novel features, such as a mine-protected hull, an extended operating range of 1,000 kilometres, and a 20 mm autocannon fitted with what was then a unique twin-linked ammunition feed, allowing turret gunners to rapidly swap between ammunition types during combat.

The first Ratel prototype appeared in March 1972, and serial production commenced in 1976. Rights to the original prototype were also sold to Belgium, which produced an amphibious derivative known as the SIBMAS. The Ratel was produced in three distinct marks between 1976 and 1987, when production ceased. All three marks were modified for a number of diverse battlefield roles. Specialised variants of the Ratel carried mortars, anti-tank guided missiles, or a turret-mounted 90 mm rifled gun.

Development history
During the 1950s, the South African Defence Force (SADF) had been primarily organised to operate alongside the British Armed Forces in the event of a military crisis affecting the British Empire's African or Middle Eastern dependencies. This reflected South Africa's longstanding defence ties to the United Kingdom and the other member states in the Commonwealth of Nations. As a result of its strategic priorities, the SADF adopted equipment which was either British in origin or otherwise compatible with Commonwealth doctrine. South African infantry units were equipped primarily with Alvis Saracen armoured personnel carriers. This reflected traditional British infantry doctrine, which placed a disproportionate emphasis on dismounted infantry; the role of armoured vehicles like the Saracen was to function as general transporters conveying infantrymen to a battlefield. Afterwards, the infantry was expected to disembark and fight on foot rather than remaining mounted.

The deterioration of relations between South Africa and the United Kingdom in the wake of the Sharpeville Massacre marked a shift in the SADF's doctrine and strategic priorities. The SADF became more focused on the threat of domestic insurgency or limited bush conflicts rather than a major conventional war overseas. Additionally, the British government's refusal to supply the SADF with new armoured vehicles forced it to turn to alternative suppliers, namely France and West Germany. Both nations cooperated closely with South African firms like Sandock-Austral to set up the country's first armoured vehicle factory at Boksburg. West Germany was especially instrumental in the transfer of defence technology; in exchange it received a higher import quota for its automotive products to South Africa. One result was that German companies came to dominate several sectors of the South African civilian and military vehicle market, including achieving a virtual monopoly on the sale of trucks to the SADF. Much of this business was conducted through local subsidiaries such as Springfield-Büssing SA, an East Rand company which was the franchise holder for all Büssing products in South Africa. Springfield-Büssing assembled its vehicles with locally manufactured bodies and engine and chassis components imported from its German parent firm.

In 1968, the SADF began formulating a new mobile warfare doctrine which centered around the independent deployment of mechanised infantry to defend the vast borders of South West Africa (Namibia), which were deemed vulnerable to the threat of insurgency and external infiltration. Mechanised infantry mounted in their own infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) could arrive sooner at contact points, with greater firepower to engage and destroy the enemy where contact was made, as well as greater protection and convenience for troops. During wargaming exercises designed to simulate a foreign invasion of South West Africa, the SADF found none of its preexisting armoured vehicles suitable to fill this role, so development of a new dedicated IFV was undertaken. Any South African IFV had to be a simple, economical design which helped ease the significant logistical commitment to maintain armoured vehicles in border regions otherwise lacking in advanced support or transport infrastructure. Excessive track wear inflicted by the abrasive, sandy terrain of the South West African border prompted South African officials to specify a wheeled vehicle. Wheeled IFVs were also favoured because they possessed a much greater operating range than tracked vehicles, and did not require the use of transporters on South West Africa's limited road and rail network. This marked a significant departure from Soviet and Western IFV doctrine, which had rejected wheeled IFVs for their inferior cross-country capability and weight-carrying capacity, as well as the vulnerable nature of their tyres to small arms fire and artillery fragments. However, improvements in power train, suspension, and run-flat tyre technology during the late 1960s helped make the concept of wheeled IFVs more viable. The SADF initially had no other requirements other than a chassis and hull combination capable of supporting a two-man turret.

Springfield-Büssing proposed a six-wheeled IFV built on a modified MAN truck chassis; the first prototype appeared as the Springfield-Büssing Buffel in March 1972. After the SADF had evaluated and rejected a number of other designs, including the Thyssen Henschel UR-416, Berliet VXB-170, Panhard M3, and the EE-11 Urutu, the Springfield-Büssing prototype was accepted for service as the Ratel. Production was undertaken by Sandock-Austral, which produced the vehicle hulls at its shipyard in Durban before having them transported by rail to its Boksburg facility for integration with the chassis and drive train. Each Ratel was powered by a Büssing D 3256 six-cylinder diesel engine fitted in a compartment at the left rear of its hull with access panels in the roof for ease of maintenance; it could be changed by two technicians with a crane in thirty minutes. It was armed with a 20 mm autocannon, which was standard armament for most Western IFVs at the time and suitable for engaging low-flying aircraft, light armour, and dismounted personnel. The SADF had selected the Hispano-Suiza HS.820 for the Ratel's primary armament due to its prior success during trials with Eland armoured cars; however, at the time of production this was superseded by a variant of the Modèle F2 produced under licence as the Denel GI-2.

The Ratel was first tested in combat during Operation Reindeer, a major South African raid on People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) insurgents based out of neighbouring Angola. For the purposes of Operation Reindeer, the SADF experimented with an integrated combat team consisting of mechanised infantry mounted in the new Ratels, backed by attached Eland armoured cars. This caused a number of delays and complications, since the four-wheeled Elands lacked sufficient mobility to keep pace with the Ratels and had to be frequently towed out of thick sand or mud. Operation Reindeer was also complicated by the fact that the Elands utilised petrol engines, which necessitated a separate logistics tail from that of the diesel-powered Ratels.

Although PLAN possessed little conventional warfare capabilities, it was frequently backed by its allies in the Cuban and Angolan armed forces, which were skilled at constructing well-fortified defensive positions and had access to heavy armour. The addition of attached Eland squadrons to mechanised infantry units was considered necessary because they carried 60 mm breech-loading mortars or large 90 mm guns, which were more useful than the Ratel's 20 mm autocannon for engaging fixed fortifications, dug-in troops, and enemy armour as needed. However, the Eland's shortcomings in terms of mobility and logistics prompted the SADF to replace it with new variants of the Ratel carrying the same armament. The Ratel-90 fire support vehicle utilised an Eland turret with a 90 mm rifled cannon firing conventional high explosive and high explosive anti-tank shells, while the Ratel-60 mortar carrier was fitted with an Eland turret mounting a 60 mm mortar. A third variant, the Ratel Command, was introduced shortly thereafter and functioned as a mobile command post. The Ratel Command was fitted with additional radio equipment, a public address system, and map tables; it carried a 12.7 mm machine gun as its main armament. The Ratel-81 was a turretless variant with an 81 mm mortar installed in the passenger compartment. The Ratel ZT3 was the final variant to be produced and was armed with a bank of ZT3 Ingwe anti-tank guided missiles.

In 1979, Sandock-Austral introduced the Ratel Mk II, which included a number of functional modifications designed to optimise the vehicle for southern African conditions and improve mechanical reliability. In 1985, the Ratel Mk II was superseded by the Ratel Mk III, which incorporated a new cooling system and an automatic cocking mechanism for the 20 mm autocannon. Production ceased in 1987, at which point 1,381 Ratels had been manufactured.

Service history
At the time of the Ratel's introduction, South African military officials were attempting to bring combined arms integration to the lowest tactical level, using brigade or even battalion-sized units as the standard all-arms unit rather than divisions. In these theoretical combat battle groups, armoured squadrons and mechanised infantry, transported in Ratels, would be integrated at the company level, giving them sufficient flexibility to operate in concert. The SADF's first integrated battle group was Combat Group Juliet, which was envisaged as a conventional strike unit to be activated for raids on guerrilla sanctuaries and infiltration routes along the borders of South West Africa and neighbouring Angola. Combat Group Juliet consisted of two companies of mechanised infantry and a squadron of Eland armoured cars. Later combat groups replaced the Eland squadron with Ratel-90s, which essentially functioned in the same role.

Ratels formed the mainstay of the SADF's ad hoc battle groups for most of the South African Border War. As the Ratel and most of the SADF's other combat vehicles were lightly armoured, South African mechanised doctrine came to revolve around such tactics as rapid movement, striking from the flank, and confusing the enemy with continuous manoeuvring. In this regard the SADF differed greatly from Western IFV doctrine–which confined the IFV's role to assisting the forward momentum of tanks–as well as Soviet IFV doctrine, which dictated that IFVs must occupy and hold terrain as needed. Although capable of operating independently, Ratel-based battle groups were not expected to occupy and hold static positions; their primary task was to outmanoeuvre an enemy unit before destroying it with a concentrated fire and movement tactic known as a firebelt action. This doctrine was suited for the wide, densely wooded expanses of southern Angola which enabled the South African forces to carry out evasive manoeuvres and strike quickly from unexpected directions without being prematurely detected. Manoeuvre-oriented warfare depended on the Ratel's speed and mobility, which were used to maximum effect to compensate for its relatively light armour.

A notable feature of the South African Border War was a cyclical pattern of increasing cross-border infiltration and raids by PLAN guerrillas, primarily from Angola, during the annual rainy season. The SADF's Ratels and other wheeled combat vehicles were hampered by thick mud, and the increased foliage cover provided PLAN with concealment from patrols. The rainy season in South West Africa and southern Angola lasted from February to April. At the end of April or early May, when the heaviest rains ceased, South African mechanised battle groups launched retaliatory raids to capture or kill the insurgents in their external sanctuaries. While carrying out an attack, Ratels interspersed into arrowhead-shaped formations, with a platoon of Ratel-20s and a troop of Ratel-90s on each flank, the command Ratels located in the centre, and the remaining Ratels following in reserve. If the mechanised battle group was integrated with tanks—as during Operation Hooper and Operation Packer—the tanks spearheaded the formation to engage hostile armour, while the Ratel-20s and Ratel-90s followed closely on the flanks to suppress any accompanying infantry. Ratel-81s, if present, occupied a place in the centre of the formation, directly behind the command Ratels.

One of the primary threats to the Ratels were hidden bunkers and the maze of trench complexes constructed around PLAN and Angolan military camps. It was not uncommon for a Ratel crew to unwittingly drive atop an insurgent bunker, which collapsed under the weight of their vehicle and rendered it immobile. More frequently, Ratels were surrounded and cut off by PLAN defenders after bogging down in trenches. This necessitated their being towed out with recovery vehicles or other Ratels, often under heavy fire. PLAN training camps were defended by a number of ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns, and these were used in the ground support role with deadly results for immobilised Ratel crews.

During the early 1980s, PLAN carefully re-sited its training camps near Angolan military installations so it could take advantage of the security provided by the attached Angolan armoured and mechanised brigades. This gave PLAN ready access to the logistical and communications infrastructure of its local allies and increased the risk to SADF raids targeting those camps exponentially. The SADF remained conscious of this fact and established a number of improvised anti-tank platoons composed of Ratel-90s to engage Angolan armour if necessary. During Operation Protea and Operation Askari, Ratel-90s were to face Angolan T-34-85, PT-76, and T-54/55 tanks, with mixed results. While the Ratel-90s were for the most part adequate in countering Angola's largely obsolete and second-line Soviet tanks, they remained hindered by mediocre standoff ranges, inferior fire control, and a lack of stabilised main armament. Ratel crews often had to manoeuvre behind the tanks and fire on them from the rear to destroy them. This required intense coordination between the vehicle commanders, who directed each other by radio until they were in a position to concentrate volleys on a tank's exposed side or rear. As the Angolan tank crews were in no position to out-manoeuvre the Ratels, they prioritised mobility kills. A common tactic was to fire a round beneath the Ratel, destroying the differentials on its axles and rendering it immobile. This stripped the Ratel of its most crucial advantage and made it an easy target for the other tanks. In the wake of Operation Askari, South African field commanders began complaining that Ratel-90s were being expected to fulfill the role of light tanks rather than serving in their intended role of infantry support. This was a violation of SADF mechanised and armoured doctrine. Consequently, the SADF introduced the Ratel ZT3 anti-tank missile carrier, a Ratel variant designed as a dedicated tank destroyer, in 1987. It was first deployed with marked success against Angolan T-54s during Operation Moduler. The Ratel ZT3 also saw limited action against Cuban T-55s during Operation Excite/Hilti.

The cessation of hostilities with Angola in 1989 and the amalgamation of the SADF into the new South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in 1995 ushered in consistent budget cuts to defence spending, resulting in a reduction of personnel and equipment. At least 354 Ratels were declared surplus to requirements and sold beginning in 2005. Much of the remaining Ratels have been handicapped by the SANDF's limited maintenance budget and inadequate numbers of trained maintenance personnel. The Ratel is scheduled to be at least partly superseded in SANDF service by a new eight-wheeled infantry fighting vehicle, the Patria AMV, also designated as the Badger.

Foreign service
After 1977, the domestic South African arms industry was driven by the economic realities of a universal arms embargo imposed on the SADF as a result of United Nations Security Council Resolution 418. The embargo deprived the SADF of many new weapons systems available to other major arms importers, curtailed its attempts to obtain defence technology on the open market, and raised the cost of obtaining spare parts and components for its preexisting equipment. While South Africa was able to partly compensate by developing its local arms industry, the SADF's requirements were too small to make the manufacture of a wide range of armaments economically profitable. Defence contractors were compelled to tool up for uneconomical and short production runs of sophisticated hardware, including military vehicles. Furthermore, the domestic manufacture of obsolete equipment items had to be sustained long after their basic technology had become quite dated, simply because no alternatives were available. These unprofitable practices threatened to result in stagnation for the defence sector; firms like Sandock-Austral looked for new ways to gain badly needed funds for future research and development efforts and counter their own rapidly rising production costs. In the early 1980s, South Africa's defence contractors turned to export orders to help create the economy of scale necessary to keep their operations viable. They embarked on a massive international marketing drive which included extensive advertising campaigns and exhibits at arms fairs. As a result, public information on vehicles like the Ratel became more readily available in connection with their manufacturers' marketing efforts.

The Royal Moroccan Army became the first prospective client to show an interest in the Ratel; it was then purchasing arms from a vast array of sources for use in the Western Sahara War. This was pursued as part of a massive re-armament programme being funded through generous military subsidies from Saudi Arabia. Morocco initially made contact with Sandock-Austral after soliciting a French firm, Panhard, for new AML armoured cars. As Panhard was closing its AML production line, it declined the order but referred the Moroccan government to South Africa, where Sandock-Austral was still producing an AML derivative under licence as the Eland. Though extensively modified, the Eland was still familiar to Moroccan crews and maintenance personnel who had been trained by French instructors on the AML. Morocco received the first Elands in 1976 and obligingly placed orders for more vehicles, including a few dozen Ratels, from Sandock-Austral. These were delivered between 1978 and 1980. The Royal Moroccan Army ordered another 80 Ratels in 1979, which were delivered between 1980 and 1981. They were deployed in counter-insurgency operations against the Polisario Front, which captured several Ratel-20s and pressed them into service. In 2016, Morocco was still operating 30 Ratel-20s and 30 Ratel-90s. All of these were the Ratel Mk III variant.

Sandock-Austral's attempts to secure new export customers for the Ratel were somewhat curtailed by the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 558, which amended the arms embargo to prohibit all member states from importing South African military equipment. At the time production of the Ratel ceased in 1987, no new export orders had been placed. Export of the Ratel only resumed again in the early 2000s, when the SANDF declared hundreds of its own IFVs surplus to requirements and offered them for sale. The chief recipient of these vehicles was the Royal Jordanian Army, which ordered 100 in 2002 and subsequently, another 221 in 2004. The Jordanian government worked closely with a number of South African contractors, such as the Mechanology Design Bureau and Paramount Group, to maintain and refurbish its Ratel fleet. Some Jordanian Ratel-20s have been retrofitted with a new Cummins QSM11-C330 diesel engine developing 329 hp (246 kW). This improved mechanical performance and extended the Ratels' maximum road speed to 110 km/h. The new engine necessitated a relocated engine compartment in the centre of the hull.

A number of Jordanian Ratels were retrofitted with a BAU-23 turret carrying twin 23 mm autocannon. Others may have also been retrofitted with a turret carrying both the original 20 mm autocannon in addition to a bank of ZT3 Ingwe missiles. In addition to service with the Royal Jordanian Army, these modified Ratels were exported in small numbers to Yemen between 2008 and 2011. In Yemeni service, the Ratel was utilised for reconnaissance purposes and essentially fulfilled the role of an armoured car. During the Yemeni Revolution, photographs of Ratels seized by defecting army personnel were circulated in the international press, evoking considerable controversy. The South African government acknowledged that it was notified of Jordan's intention to deliver the vehicles to Yemen, but had not formally consented to their transfer or amended the original end-user agreement, which made no provision for the re-export of Jordanian Ratels to third parties. A similar controversy erupted when Ratels began appearing in Libyan service in 2013, prompting Democratic Alliance defence spokesman David Maynier to call for a formal inquiry into how Libya could have acquired the vehicles without the knowledge of South Africa's National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC). Maynier suggested that Libya, like Yemen, had likely obtained the Ratels from another country in violation of an end-user agreement. Ratels are currently operated by the Libyan National Army, as well as a number of unaffiliated militias such as the Zintan Brigades and the February 17th Martyrs Brigade.

Small quantities of second-hand Ratels have been delivered by the SANDF to a number of other African states, including Ghana, which received 15 Ratel-20s and 24 Ratel-90s in 2004, and Rwanda, which received 15 Ratel-90s and 20 Ratel-60s in 2007. Senegal ordered 26 Ratel-20s in 2008 and had received them by 2010. Zambia also received 20 refurbished ex-SANDF Ratel-20s in 2012. Djibouti purchased 12 Ratel-90s in 2004 from an unknown source. Cameroon's Rapid Intervention Battalion acquired 12 Ratel-20s between 2015 and 2016 for demining operations in areas affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.

In 2007, the SANDF committed to donate up to 18 Ratel-90s to the Central African Republic (CAR) under the auspices of Operation Vimbezela. This effort collapsed due to a variety of unforeseen problems: the SANDF was only willing to supply previously decommissioned Ratel-90s and insisted that the donation was contingent on the Central African government making its own arrangements to have them shipped to Bangui. The latter possessed insufficient funds to restore all the Ratel-90s to serviceable condition or cover the shipping cost. Only 2 were delivered while the remainder were reclaimed by the South African contractor responsible for their refurbishment, citing unpaid shipping fees. Both Ratels arrived without adequate parts, maintenance equipment, or ammunition; nevertheless, they were utilised for training purposes by the SANDF mission in the CAR. At least three local crews were trained between 2010 and 2013, after which the vehicles were formally adopted by the Central African Army. The Ratel-90s were deployed without success against Séléka militants during the country's 2012–2014 civil war. Their inexperienced crews failed to use them effectively in an offensive role, and ammunition shortages became so acute that President François Bozizé made personal appeals to South African officials for additional stocks of 90 mm shells. After the end of the civil war, it was not clear whether the army retained the Ratel-90s or if either was operational. An arms control panel appointed by the UN Security Council reported that they were still in the CAR in July 2014.

The SANDF has also donated Ratels to multinational peacekeeping forces, namely the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).

Description
The Ratel was based on a commercial MAN truck chassis, from which many mechanical parts were utilised. Its use of parts otherwise ubiquitous to the civilian automotive industry proved to be an advantage in circumventing the universal arms embargo imposed on South Africa, which extended only to purpose-built military products. The vehicle is not amphibious and is not fitted with an NBC overpressure system. Most production model Ratels did not have any specialised night vision equipment. As an interim measure, the SADF occasionally issued Ratel crews with night vision goggles, which aided navigation in the Angolan bush where the use of headlamps was precluded due to proximity to enemy positions. This was impractical for night fighting as muzzle flashes could blind the crew and the bulky goggles hampered movement and reaction speed in the turret. In the 1990s, Denel Land Systems developed night sights which could be fitted on new Ratel-20 turrets or retrofitted on older turrets.

The Ratel possesses rear-mounted engine and fighting compartments, while its turret ring and driving compartment are located towards the front of the vehicle. It has a long, box-shaped hull with slightly sloped vertical sides and rear. The hull is of all-welded construction, with a maximum armour thickness of 20 mm on the hull front. Each Ratel hull is protected against 7.62×39mm armour-piercing ammunition at any angle; it is also capable of stopping 12.7×108mm armour-piercing ammunition on the frontal arc. The bottom of the hull structure is blastproof and vee-shaped to deflect mine explosions away from the passengers and crew. Ratels frequently detonated stacked anti-tank mines during the South African Border War with little injury to their occupants and minimal drive train damage. On many occasions they were able to keep moving after basic field repairs. Anti-tank mines common in Angola, such as the TMA-3, could destroy a Ratel's axles and occasionally damage its gearbox, but almost never penetrated its hull.

The Ratel's crew consists of a section commander, driver, turret gunner, and rear gunner. In addition to the crew, an attached infantry section of nine is carried in the fighting compartment of the vehicle. There are three firing ports with vision blocks on either side of the fighting compartment. Passenger capacity may be reduced to six or seven if additional ammunition racks or radio equipment is carried. The infantry section debarks from three large, pneumatically sealed doors on either side of the hull and at the rear; it is also provided with five forward access hatches on the hull roof.

The driver is seated at the front centre of the Ratel and provided with three bulletproof windscreens for use in a combat environment. This design feature was adopted directly from the Berliet VXB-170 and favoured for its enhanced situational awareness. The windscreens are fitted with armoured shutters which could be closed down as needed. Three vision periscopes are provided for the driver. The Ratel's steering system is mechanical, with hydraulic assistance. Ratel turrets are located towards the front of the vehicle, directly behind the driving compartment, and house two crew members: the section commander to the left and the turret gunner to the right. Both crew members are provided with roof hatches; the commander is also afforded a domed cupola with vision blocks. The commander and gunner have nine day periscopes for all-round observation. The Ratel's standard armament is a 20 mm F2 M693 automatic cannon manufactured under licence as the Denel GI-2. The autocannon may be elevated to a maximum of +38° for use against low-flying, fixed wing aircraft and helicopters. It has a selector switch used to alternate between three rates of fire—semi-automatic, limited burst, or fully automatic—and is belt fed from two ammunition chutes in the turret. The dual-feed system allows the gunner to swap between different projectile types fed from either chute as needed. Two types of ammunition can be selected: a high-explosive (HE) round with a range of 2,000 metres, or an armour-piercing tungsten carbide (APTC) round with a range of 1,000 metres. The HE rounds have a muzzle velocity of 1,050 m/s, while the armour-piercing round has an initial muzzle velocity of 1,300 m/s and penetration of 20mm of rolled homogeneous armour at an incidence of 60°.

The GI-2 can achieve a cyclic rate of fire of 700 to 750 rounds per minute and 1,200 rounds of 20 mm ammunition are carried on board. It provides the Ratel with a close support and anti-armour capability which proved sufficient to engage Angolan BTR-60 APCs and light armoured cars such as the BRDM-2 at long range. While the autocannon is generally impotent against heavier armour, well-directed fire or exceptional shots are capable of damaging a tank's external features, especially its sights. During Operation Moduler, one Ratel commander directed a stream of 20 mm APTC rounds at an Angolan T-55 at close range, which apparently penetrated a vulnerable margin in its armour and caused a catastrophic kill after igniting the on-board ammunition.

A co-axial 7.62 mm Browning M1919 machine gun is mounted to the left of the main armament on nearly all variants of the Ratel. Aside from the co-axial machine gun, a second 7.62 mm Browning M1919 is carried at the rear of the vehicle's hull for anti-aircraft purposes. Both the Ratel-60 and Ratel-90 are also armed with a third 7.62 mm M1919 on their turret roofs. A maximum of 6,000 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition are carried within the vehicle.

The Ratel is powered by a six-cylinder, liquid-cooled, turbocharged D 3256 BTXF diesel engine. This is housed in an engine compartment at the rear left of the hull and coupled to a fully automatic RENK HSU 106 automatic gearbox with six forward and two reverse gear ratios. The gearbox can be operated manually and has a mechanical emergency gearshift. Drive is transmitted to the Ratel's three axles in two stages, with final reduction being achieved by epicyclic gearing in the wheel hubs. The three axles have their own locking differentials and longitudinal differential locks. There are hydropneumatic shock dampers at each wheel station.

Derivatives

 * Iklwa - A prototype built by BAE Systems Land Systems South Africa that is based on the Ratel but with the hull and drive train upgraded and the engine moved from the rear to the front

Operators

 * 🇨🇲 Cameroon: 12
 * 🇨🇫 Central African Republic: 2
 * 🇩🇯 Djibouti: 16-20
 * 🇬🇭 Ghana: 39
 * 🇯🇴 Jordan: 321
 * 🇱🇾 Libya
 * 🇲🇦 Morocco: 60
 * 🇷🇼 Rwanda: 35
 * Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
 * 🇸🇳 Senegal: 26
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa: 534 in service, 666 in reserve
 * 🇾🇪 Yemen
 * 🇿🇲 Zambia: 14

title: Ratel IFV


text:
Trump International Hotel and Tower (Chicago)

The Trump International Hotel and Tower is a skyscraper condo-hotel in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The building, named for Donald Trump, was designed by architect Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Bovis Lend Lease built the 100-story structure, which reaches a height of 423.2 m including its spire, its roof topping out at 1171 ft. It is next to the main branch of the Chicago River, with a view of the entry to Lake Michigan beyond a series of bridges over the river. The building received publicity when the winner of the first season of The Apprentice reality television show, Bill Rancic, chose to manage the construction of the tower over managing a Rancho Palos Verdes–based Trump National Golf Course & Resort in the Los Angeles metro area.

Trump announced in 2001 that the skyscraper would become the tallest building in the world, but after the September 11 attacks that same year, the architects scaled back the building's plans, and its design underwent several revisions. When topped out in 2009, it became the second-tallest building in the U.S. It surpassed the city's John Hancock Center as the building with the highest residence (apartment or condo) in the world, and briefly held this title until the completion of the Burj Khalifa.

The design of the building includes, from the ground up, retail space, a parking garage, a hotel and condominiums. The 339-room hotel opened for business with limited accommodations and services on January 30, 2008, then full accommodation and services on April 28. The building was topped out in late 2008 and construction was completed in 2009. Sixteen was one of five restaurants in Chicago with at least a Michelin Guide two-star rating in 2016 and one of three five-star Forbes-rated restaurants in the city until it closed in 2018. The spa is one of six with at least a four-star Forbes rating in the Chicago area in 2015.

Location
The tower sits at 401 North Wabash Avenue in the River North Gallery District, part of the Near North Side community area of Chicago. The building occupies the site vacated by the Chicago Sun-Times, one of the city's two major newspapers, and its location within the River North Gallery District places it in a neighborhood that has had a high concentration of art galleries since the 1980s. The site, at the foot of Rush Street, is on the north side of the Chicago River just west of the Wrigley Building and the Michigan Avenue Bridge, and just east of Marina City and 330 North Wabash. The building is close to numerous Chicago landmarks; it borders the Michigan-Wacker District, which is a Registered Historic District. Parts of the building are visible throughout the city, and the entire length of the building is visible from boats on the river, as well as from locations to the east along the river, such as the mouth of Lake Michigan, the Lake Shore Drive Overpass, and the Columbus Drive Bridge.

The building is across the Chicago River from the Chicago Loop, the city's business district. It is a block away from the southern end of the Magnificent Mile portion of Michigan Avenue. The restaurant, Terrace 16, has a clear view of the Chicago River's entrance to Lake Michigan and of the four buildings completed in the 1920s that flank the Michigan Avenue Bridge (Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower, 333 North Michigan, and 360 North Michigan).

Design and architecture
The design of the building incorporates three setback features designed to provide visual continuity with the surrounding skyline, each reflecting the height of a nearby building. The first setback, on the east side of the building, aligns with the cornice line of the Wrigley Building to the east; the second, on the west side, aligns with River Plaza to the north and with the Marina City Towers to the west. The third setback, on the east side, relates to 330 North Wabash building (formerly known as IBM Plaza). However, some views distort the alignment of the second setback. The setbacks and rounded edges of the building combat vortex formation. The body of the building is raised 30 ft above the main Wabash entrance and 70 ft above the Chicago River. The building's Permasteelisa curtain wall uses clear low-emissivity coated glass and a curved wing-shaped polished stainless-steel mullion system that projects 9 in from the glass line. It incorporates brushed stainless steel spandrel panels and clear anodized aluminum.

The building has 2.6 e6sqft of floor space, rises to 98 stories, and houses 486 luxury residential condominiums. These include studio apartments, a mixture of suites with one to four bedrooms, and five-bedroom penthouses. The tower also features a luxury hotel condominium with 339 guest rooms. The building includes, from the ground up, retail space, a parking garage, a hotel, and condominiums. The 3rd through 12th floors house lobbies, retail space, and the parking garage; the 14th floor and its mezzanine hosts a health club and spa. The 17th floor through the 27th-floor mezzanine contain hotel condominiums and executive lounges. The 28th through 85th floors have residential condominiums, and the 86th through 89th floors have penthouses. A 1.2 acre riverfront park and riverwalk, along a 500 ft space in the area adjacent to the building to the east, was opened in the first half of 2010. The park facilitates public assembly and entertainment activity while linking the building effectively with river commuters.

In 2011, the riverfront park landscaping surrounding the building, which is referred to as Trump Plaza and Riverwalk or sometimes just Trump Plaza, became the subject of controversy. In 2010, the Plaza had earned special recognition at the Mayor Richard M. Daley's Landscape Awards. The press release noted the landscaping "for their magnificent new civic landscape that is a poetic interpretation of native Illinois that seems at once sophisticated and familiar." However, in 2011, the award-winning plantings of small sumac trees, ferns and native grasses with yellow, orange and red hues were removed and replaced with evergreens like junipers and boxwoods, pieces of gray stone, and purple perennials (catmint and salvia), which may require less watering. To add to the controversy, the planting was accompanied by a plan to light the trees to attract nighttime park visitors, in conflict with the "dark skies" movement to reduce light pollution to facilitate better stargazing.

The building broke the record for the world's highest residence above ground level, held since 1969 by the nearby John Hancock Center. Because the Trump Tower has both hotel condominiums and residential condominiums, it does not contest the record held by the 88-story 432 Park Avenue in New York City, which, at 1396 ft, is the tallest residential building in the world.

Height
The Trump International Hotel and Tower rises 1400 ft from the building's main entrance on Wabash Avenue to the tip of the architectural spire. Upon its completion in 2009, the building became the seventh-tallest building in the world, behind the 1380 ft Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. On November 17, 2009, however, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), which composes rankings of the tallest skyscrapers in the world based on various criteria, changed its standard for measuring a building's height. Prior to this change, a building's architectural height was calculated from the main entrance to the tip of the spire; new standards measured from the lowest open-air pedestrian level of a building. As the Trump International Hotel and Tower has a riverwalk entrance and pedestrian level 27 ft below the building's Wabash Avenue entrance, the skyscraper's official height was recalculated as 423.2 m without a physical addition to the structure. According to the CTBUH, the recalculated height also made the tower the sixth-tallest building in the world, surpassing the Jin Mao Tower by 9 ft. In January 2010, the building moved back to its position as seventh-tallest with the opening of the 828 m Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Sign
According to Trump, he received approval for a 3600 sqft sign from Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's administration in 2009, but renegotiated with Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration. In October 2013, Trump received approval to erect 20 ft stainless steel letters back-lit with white LED lighting spelling out TRUMP on the 16th floor of the building. He made his impending plans for the sign public in February 2014. According to a city planning department spokesperson, standard protocol for such a sign is to require approval from the local alderman (Brendan Reilly, 42nd ward) and the full Chicago City Council. The five letters span a width of approximately 141 ft, making the final approved version approximately 2800 - 2891 sqft, according to some sources – rather than the originally proposed size. The sign is about 200 ft above ground level.

Crews began hanging the sign in May 2014. When Chicago Tribune architecture critic Kamin warned Trump that his review of the sign would be unfavorable, Trump responded "As time passes, it'll be like the Hollywood Sign"; architect Smith distanced himself from the sign saying "Just for the record, I had nothing to do with this sign!" The controversy surrounding the sign drew attention in the national press and international press as it neared completion and the Associated Press ran a story about Mayor Emanuel's disapproval in mid-June. According to the Mayor's spokeswoman Kelley Quinn, "Mayor Emanuel believes this is an architecturally tasteful building scarred by an architecturally tasteless sign". Kamin has noted that part of the problem is the architectural traditions of the city: "If this sign was in Atlantic City or Las Vegas, nobody would care—but it is in Chicago, and in a part of Chicago full of great buildings from the 1920s to the 1960s and onward". Trump and Reilly both pointed out how unbecoming the prior Chicago Sun-Times building signage was. As a result of the fiasco, Emanuel initiated a study on how to alter the rules to avert similar signage controversies in the future. A Chicago-based design firm planned to create and float four giant pig balloons in front of the sign as a protest, but were unsuccessful getting US Coast Guard and Chicago Department of Transportation approvals.

In the wake of the January 6 United States Capitol attack, city alderman Gilbert Villegas proposed a new ordinance that would prevent any renewal of sign permits to persons convicted of "treason, sedition or subversive activities", specifically targeting the sign.

Features
According to the "2010 City Guide: Chicago" edition of the Forbes Travel Guide, the building hosts one of the seven four-star restaurants in the city and one of the three four-star spas. The hotel is one of two four star hotels. In 2010, Chicago had two five-star hotels and two five-star restaurants. By the time of the Forbes Travel Guide: 2013 City Guide, the hotel and restaurant were each among only three five-star ratings in the city. It retained this ranking in the 2015 Forbes Guide (along with hotels The Peninsula and Four Seasons and with restaurants Alinea and Grace). The spa was among 6 four- or five-star Forbes-rated spas in the Chicago area in 2015.

The restaurant was promoted to two-star rating by the Michelin Guide for 2014 and retained that rating in 2015. It was one of 5 Chicago restaurants to achieve at least a two-star Michelin rating in both years. In 2016, it again retained its two-star rating as one of five restaurants in the city with such a rating.

Hotel
The original plan was to have a partial opening of three of the hotel's floors on December 3, 2007, with a grand opening to follow. The interim ceremony, however, was delayed until January 30, 2008,  while the City of Chicago granted occupancy approval for the staff of the hotel in the first 27 floors. Four floors of guest rooms were opened, comprising 125 of the planned 339 rooms. By January 30, construction on the exterior of the building had passed the 53rd floor. The grand opening of the hotel, including amenities, originally scheduled for March 17, 2008, took place on April 28, 2008. Pulitzer-Prize-winning Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin faults the zebrawood paneling in the hotel lobby, but another Tribune reporter praises the hotel for its "understated, contemporary look, distinguished by stunning views".

Restaurants
On the 16th floor, a restaurant named Sixteen opened in early February 2008, and an outdoor patio terrace, named The Terrace at Trump, opened on June 25, 2009, following the completion of construction. The restaurant opened to favorable reviews for its cuisine, decor, location, architecture, and view. Sixteen, which was designed by Joe Valerio, is described architecturally as a sequence of spaces that do not reveal themselves at once, but rather in "procession". The restaurant's foyer is T-shaped, and a passageway to the hotel is lined with floor-to-ceiling architectural bronze wine racks in opposing red and white wine rooms. The passageway leads to views—praised by Kamin—that showcase the Wrigley Building clock tower and the Tribune Tower's flying buttresses. Kamin notes that these views are "more intimate" than the panoramic ones of the Signature Room, a restaurant near the top of the Hancock Center. The views are described as equally impressive by day and by night. The main part of the procession is the Tower Room, a dining room with a 30 ft dome-shaped ceiling made of West African wood. The dome is furnished with Swarovski chandeliers and incorporates mirrors so that all diners can experience the view.

The Terrace, which opened on June 25, 2009, has views of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan as well as Navy Pier's seasonal Wednesday and Saturday evening fireworks, and was designed for outdoor or "al fresco" dining.

Rebar—the hotel bar on the mezzanine level—opened on April 18, 2008.

On June 5, 2018, it was announced that Terrace 16 Restaurant & Bar would replace Sixteen. The newly themed dining space was expected to debut during the summer of 2018.

Spa
The 23000 sqft spa, named The Spa at Trump, opened in late March 2008. The spa offers gemstone-infused (diamond, ruby, or sapphire) oil massages, hydrating masques, exfoliating salts and the "Deluge shower". The spa features a health club with an indoor pool, eleven treatment rooms, a private couples treatment suite, Swiss shower, and saunas. The Citysearch editorial review described this as the "Bentley of hotel spas". A Chicago Tribune critic spoke of the spa in positive terms for both the treatment and the physical spa itself. The Spa at Trump can be accessed from a large circular staircase inside the hotel, enabling its customers to access the facility from specially designed spa guest rooms without using the elevator.

Design history
In July 2001, when Donald Trump announced plans for the site of the former seven-story Sun-Times Building, the tower was expected to reach a height of 1500 ft, which would have made it the world's tallest building. It was expected to contain between 2.4 and 3.1 e6sqft of floor space  and cost about $77 million just for the property rights. Three architectural firms were considered: Lohan Associates, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill; Trump selected Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in August 2001. Adrian Smith, who had previously designed the Jin Mao Tower, headed the SOM team, giving Chicago a third skyscraper from the same firm which had previously designed the Willis Tower and the Hancock Center.

After the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, Trump reduced the planned height to 78 stories and 1073 ft, to reduce the risk of similar attacks. Time magazine reported that a meeting between Smith and Trump about erecting the tallest building in Chicago was taking place at the actual time of the attacks. Some international news sources later claimed that the planned tower height was reduced to 900 ft after the original plans called for a 150-story building that would reach 2000 ft. These claims are supported by computer renderings from 1999 of the proposed skyscraper, shown in the Chicago Tribune in 2005.

The building's 1073 ft design was first released in December 2001. However, the first design did not meet with approval from other architects, or from the residents of Chicago. A subsequent revision in July 2002 resulted in an 86-floor design for use as an office and residential structure, similar to the 2006 design which is, however, for a different combination of uses. Smith's 2002 plans put broadcast antennas (multiple communications dishes) at the top of the building. A revised 90-story, 1125 ft plan was unveiled in September 2003 for a building including condominiums, office space, a "condominium hotel", retail stores, and restaurants. In January 2004, another revision changed floors 17 through 26 from offices into condominiums and hotel rooms. In his May 2004 plan, Smith decided to top the building with an ornamental spire instead of communications dishes. These dishes, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, would not have counted toward the building's height. The spire, however, will count, raising the tower's height to 1300 ft. At one point in 2005, Trump aspired to build a slightly taller building that would surpass the Sears Tower as the nation's tallest building, but Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was against the plan. Eventually, Smith settled on a design with a height of 1362 ft, which was the height of 2 World Trade Center, the shorter of the former twin World Trade Center towers. This height makes the Tower the seventh tallest in the United States.

Initial phases
On October 16, 2004, Donald Trump and Hollinger International, the parent company of the Chicago Sun-Times, completed the $73 million sale of the former home of the newspaper a week after it relocated. On October 28, 2004, Trump held a ceremony to begin the demolition of the former Sun-Times Building. The demolition and construction were financed by a $650 million loan from Deutsche Bank and a trio of hedge funds, one of which George Soros backed.

In March 2005, the construction process began with the sinking of the first caisson for the tower into the bedrock. In April, construction began on the foundation below the Chicago River. In July 2005, water from the river began seeping into the building site, through crevices in a corner where the foundation wall meets the Wabash Avenue Bridge. Divers discovered that the leak could not be sealed from the water side. After several other failed attempts to correct the problem, they drove a steel plate next to the gap and filled the space between with concrete after digging it out.

Within a single 24-hour period in October 2005, a fleet of 30 concrete trucks made 600 trips to pour 5000 cuyd of concrete, and thus create a 200 by 66 by 10 ft concrete "mat". The mat serves as the base of the building, from which its spine rises. Those involved with the construction referred to the day as the "Big Pour". James McHugh Construction Co. was contracted for the concrete work on this job. They obtained the concrete from the Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street distribution site of Prairie Material Sales Inc of Bridgeview, Illinois, the former largest privately owned ready-mix concrete company in the United States. Prairie used a formula of concrete that had never been used in the construction business to meet a 10000 psi specification, which exceeded the standard 7000 psi for conventional concrete.

Legal issues
In October 2006, controversy erupted over a 10 by street kiosk at the foot of the Magnificent Mile in front of the Wrigley Building at 410 North Michigan Avenue that advertised Trump Tower a full block away. Extensive debate and publicity occurred on the issue of whether such advertising should have been allowed. Two distinct pieces of legislation in 2002 and 2003 by the Chicago City Council had authorized the kiosk, but sidewalk billboards were not common in Chicago at the time, and their desirability was questioned. Although there were demands from citizens' organizations and the local Alderman Burton Natarus (who had voted in favor of the legislation) to remove the kiosk, Trump agreed only to remove pricing information from the signage, after a request to remove all advertising from it. Originally, one side displayed the geographical information and the other side functioned as a billboard.

In a separate legal development, Donald Trump was sued by former Chicago Sun-Times publisher F. David Radler and his daughters in February 2008 for rescinding all "friends and family" condominium purchases, including Radler's. As president of the Sun-Times' holding company, Radler had negotiated the sale of the paper's headquarters building to Trump's consortium. The price of Radler's condo had been discounted by 10%, and only a 5% deposit was required instead of the standard 15%. Radler and family were part of a group of 40 insiders who were able to purchase property at about 500 $/sqft. When the market value of the property eventually rose to over 1300 $/sqft, Trump nullified the "friends and family" sales. The insiders were involved in the planning and designing of the building. In January 2007, Trump cited both a clause about "matters beyond [the] seller's reasonable control" and the desire to "have more income to handle potentially higher construction costs". Despite Trump's concerns about higher construction costs, earlier in the same month, Ivanka Trump, his daughter, an executive of the company, had stated that the construction was $50 million under budget. In addition to the Radler suit over the validity of the "friends and family" discount contracts, a group of four owners sued over revisions to the closing terms, which placed limits on the owner occupancy of condo hotel units and excluded the meeting rooms and ballrooms from the common elements of which the owners have an interest.

In an additional legal issue, on February 8, 2005, Trump had closed on a construction loan of $640 million from Deutsche Bank for the project. He also obtained a $130–135 million junior mezzanine loan from another syndicate headed by Fortress Investment Group. As part of these contracts, Trump had included a $40 million personal guarantee. The contracts also mandated partial repayments for each closed unit sale, and minimum sale prices. In September 2008, due to slow unit sales, Trump sought to extend both loans until mid-2009 because he felt that it was necessary in the business environment and expected from the outset of the contract. On November 10, Deutsche Bank demanded the outstanding loan payment and the $40 million guarantee. Trump filed suit later that month against Deutsche Bank in New York State Supreme Court in an effort to excuse a repayment of more than $330 million that had been due November 7, and to extend the construction loan for an unspecified period of time because of extenuating circumstances arising from the financial crisis of 2007–2010. Trump cited a "force majeure" clause that allowed the borrower to delay completion of the project under a catch-all section covering "any other event or circumstance not within the reasonable control of the borrower". Trump not only sought an extension, but sought damages of $3 billion from the bank for its use of predatory lending practices to undermine the project and damage his reputation, which he claimed "is associated worldwide with on-time, under-budget, first-class construction projects and first-class luxury hotel operations." At the end of November, Deutsche Bank countersued Trump to force him to uphold his personal payment guarantee from February 2005, after he failed to repay the amount due November 7—a date that already had been extended. The suits did not interfere with Trump's ability to continue drawing on the credit line provided by Deutsche Bank, because without the project's continued financing, Deutsche Bank may have had to assume the role of developer. In March 2009, both parties agreed to suspend litigation and resolve the disagreement amicably in an effort to help the project to succeed. In September 2010, an amended loan agreement stopped the litigation and extended the term on an approximately $600 million construction loan for five years.

Construction
Bill Rancic, The Apprentice's season-one winner in 2004, was originally hired to manage the project for a $250,000 salary. Rancic's title was President of the Trump International Hotel and Tower, but the title was somewhat misleading, because he was in fact learning on the job as an "Apprentice." Rancic's contract was renewed after his first year, but in September 2005, it appeared that his employment with Trump would finish at the end of his second year in April 2006. During 2005, Donald Trump Jr., who had been involved in the building since its earliest stages in 1999, was overseeing the construction with weekly visits, while Rancic worked on sales and marketing. In December 2005, Rancic made it clear that he wanted to continue working for Trump, and in April 2006, his contract was renewed for a third year. In that year Donald Trump's children began to assume prominent public roles as in the Trump Organization; by January 2007, all three adult Trump children (Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump) were executives in the acquisitions and development division of the organization. By the time the Chicago Trump Tower's hotel opened in the building in January 2008, Donald Trump and his three adult children were in the spotlight, overseeing the construction.

Bovis Lend Lease, noted for work on Disneyland Paris, Petronas Towers, and the Time Warner Center, was the construction company. James McHugh Construction Co, the concrete subcontractor, implemented a comprehensive formwork for the construction of the building. At the completion of construction the building was the tallest formwork structure in the world, and follows in the footsteps of its neighbor, Marina City, as well as Chicago's Two Prudential Plaza, as past recordholders. Concrete moulding was used, because using a traditional ironwork structure would have required a building footprint that would have been too big for the property size, proportional to the height of the designed building. A steel frame would have had to be 25 ft wider to have supported a building of this proportion. Concrete will counteract the force of wind with the force of gravity of the 360000 ST building. A new chemical process that leveraged more fluid liquid concrete facilitated pumping concrete up several hundred feet to the elevating construction site. Although previous technology limited formwork to 700 ft, this technology permitted the pumping of concrete 1700 ft high.

The building is cantilevered into a section of 420 million-year-old limestone bedrock 110 ft underground. It uses 4 ft-wide stilt-like pillars that were drilled beneath the building. Every 30 ft around its perimeter, steel-reinforced concrete was poured into these holes to form the structural support. On top of these caisson shafts and pillars, an 8400 ST concrete pad foundation was built to support the building's spine. The building has 241 caissons, and the majority of the caissons only descend 75 ft into hard clay. However, 57 of them go an additional 35 ft into the ground, including 6 ft of bedrock. The concrete spine uses five I-beam-shaped walls and exterior columns, narrowing to two as the building rises. Each floor is separated by a concrete slab, and stainless steel, glass, and aluminum panels are attached to each floor. 50000 ST of reinforcing steel bars, called rebar, support the hotel. The extensive use of concrete makes the building more fireproof. Of the $600 million construction budget, $130 million was earmarked for the James McHugh Construction Co, who handled the 180000 cuyd concrete-only portion of the job.

Two earlier business decisions by the Chicago Sun-Times led to substantial savings of time and money during the Trump Tower's construction. The original 1950s sea wall was built by the newspaper company to bomb-shelter thickness, to withstand a Cold War attack, and thus did not have to be broken down and rebuilt. Furthermore, the company decided in the 1970s to switch from petroleum-based to soy-based ink, which reduced ground pollution from the printing plant. This considerably reduced the costs and time for cleaning up the site prior to building anew.

On August 16, 2008, construction crews made the last major concrete pour to top off the Trump tower's concrete core, which was commemorated with an unofficial ceremony. To celebrate the milestone, a yellow tower crane raised a bucket full of concrete and an American flag to the rooftop of the skyscraper. Another ceremony occurred on August 19, when construction supervisors, structural engineers and company representatives from McHugh Construction made a minor concrete pour at the top of the Trump tower. Although Donald Trump was absent from both of these ceremonies, he, Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump attended the topping off party on September 24, 2008. Original plans called for the windows to be completed and the spire erected in October 2008. However, the spire installation was delayed through high winds in December 2008, and was finally completed on January 3, 2009. Kamin's critical opinion is that the spire is not aesthetically complementary.

At the September 2008 topping off ceremony, Donald Trump marketed his hotel by expressing doubts about the Chicago Spire ever being completed due to the financial crisis of 2007–2009. However, Donald Trump Jr. said that they were fortunate to complete the project, while the Spire and Waterview Tower were among developments hit by the economic slowdown that followed the financial crisis. Occupancy had begun on lower-floor condominiums at the time of the ceremony.

Residents of the Trump building are zoned to Chicago Public Schools, more specifically to Ogden School and Wells Community Academy High School.

After opening
On 2024, the New York Times and ProPublica reported that the Internal Revenue Service investigated whether Trump had twice written off losses through construction cost overruns and lagging sales during the recession. The publications, "in consultation with tax experts, calculated that the revision sought by the IRS would create a new tax bill of more than $100 million, plus interest and potential penalties".

Residential unit sales
Trump's hotel was 25% unsold at the time of the 2008 topping off ceremony, and was expected to need the mid-2009 construction loan extension that has caused legal complications. This was partially due to the subprime mortgage crisis, which disrupted condominium sales. Trump had sold all but 36 of the building's 486 residential condos at the end of 2012, and 15 remained unsold at the end of 2013. By May 15, 2014, only six units remained for sale including three that were used as the sales center and sales models.

Notable residents
Several local celebrities purchased units in the building, including numerous professional athletes and artists. Juwan Howard, Rex Grossman, Patrick Kane and R. Kelly were among the purchasers of Trump properties. Derrick Rose purchased a $2.8 million 3102 sqft condo in spring 2012. Other prominent purchasers of units included McDonald's Chief Executive and President Don Thompson and WMAQ-TV (NBC 5 Chicago) president and general manager David Doebler. United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek and Huron Consulting Group CEO James Roth also purchased properties in the building.

Two units on the 87th and 88th floors sold for prices in excess of $5 million in 2009 directly from the developer. After a few soft years in the real estate market, it took until August 2014, for units to sell for prices in excess of $1000 per square foot. Two units sold for over $3 million that month including a $3.99 million sale, which was the highest sale price in the building since 2009. The penthouse sold for $17 million in late 2014 to Sanjay Shah, founder and CEO of Vistex.

In May 2016, a one-bedroom unit with a parking space became the first listed Chicago one-bedroom unit to fetch over $1,100-a-square-foot when Mark and Deborah Hellman moved their interests from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom unit in the building. Overall, however, real estate observers noticed a slowdown in Trump Tower sales due to the controversial nature of the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign: prospective buyers who were happy with the actual tower residences were unsure they wanted to be associated with the Trump name.

Floods in 2014
In February, after one round of drink service, three men were denied further service at Sixteen due to their apparent intoxication; as a payback, the three pulled what was intended to be a prank. They set off fire alarms and opened a fifth-floor stairwell Chicago Fire Department standpipe valve and flooded elevator shafts with thousands of gallons of water, damaging woodwork, electrical circuitry and marble. The resulting damage was estimated at $700,000 and the three faced felony criminal damage to property charges.

On June 26, a pipe burst near the west public parking entrance, causing the first floor of the tower to flood.

Environmental lawsuit
In June 2018, through the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Chicago, the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club and Friends of the Chicago River provided notice of their intent to sue the Chicago Trump International Hotel and Tower over violations of the Clean Water Act, alleging an illegal operation of a cooling water intake structure that siphons water from the Chicago River and likely traps and kills fish and other wildlife. In August 2018, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed suit in the Circuit Court of Cook County alleging that though Trump Tower's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit expired on August 31, 2017, it continued to release almost 20 million gallons of water it uses for cooling into the river each day. In February 2021, a judge ruled that the building's management had violated state environmental laws by operating the water intake without a permit and without filing plans detailing how they would minimize the environmental impact.

Madigan's successor Kwame Raoul sued the Trump Organization again in September 2023, alleging the tower continued to take in river water without a valid permit. The Sierra Club and Friends of the Chicago River also filed a renewed complaint that claimed the tower's river intake had been underestimated by 44% in official filings.

Incidents
On Sunday, October 18, 2020, at around 5:30 PM (CDT), an unidentified man in his 20s suspended himself from a landing located on the 16th floor and hung down the side of the skyscraper facing the Chicago River for more than thirteen hours. While hanging from the side of the skyscraper, the man filmed a video that was live-streamed on to social media. In the video he was shown hanging from an orange rope, holding a knife in his left hand; he said that if anyone attempted to pull him up using the rope, he would cut it and fall to his death. He then demanded to speak to U.S. President Donald Trump and acknowledged the hard work of the Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago emergency services during the COVID-19 pandemic. He continued by saying that he wanted to speak to the media and he goes on to say that he is not a crazy person. He ends the video by again saying that he wants to speak to the media. Chicago police peacefully resolved the situation with no injuries on Monday, October 19, 2020, at around 6:30 AM (CDT) by negotiating with the suspect. The man was pulled up by several police officers and was taken into custody.

Critical review
Fodor's Chicago 2010 ranks the hotel as having one of the best spas and one of the best pools in the city. It also ranked the hotel as a Fodor's Choice among Chicago lodging options. Fodor's also notes that the hotel has impeccable service and lavish amenities, but also notes that the hotel may be a bit "too decadent", with offerings such as $25 bottles of water.

Frommer's Chicago 2010 describes the hotel as having the gorgeous views and upscale amenities to provide a place to go to live the life of a wealthy tourist. The building is praised for its location, which provides as many views along the Chicago River as possible. Its modern architecture is praised for "contemporary synthesis of adjacent building fabrics and modulations" that preserve the city's architectural heritage and integrate the riverfront setting.

BlackBook Magazine's Guide to Chicago describes the hotel as an embodiment of poshness which gives the visitor bragging rights upon his/her return home.

Forbes Travel Guide describes the hotel as having an understated upscale lobby, sophisticated lounge, gorgeous restaurant and lavish rooms with amazing views. It also describes the hotel as befitting of the Trump name in several ways.

Time Out describes the building as a "testament to a vibrant 21st-century optimism in Chicago". It notes that the hotel meets all expectations attached to the name Trump in terms of luxury, modern conveniences and speaks highly of the views.

Insight Guides describes the building's architectural swagger as fitting for the post-September 11 attacks skyline. Ten years after the September 11 attacks, Kamin described the building as the one that "best reveals how the September 11 terrorist attacks either did or did not change architecture". Kamin clarified his belief:

"Simply by virtue of standing there—and by being the tallest American building built since the 1974 completion of Sears (now Willis) Tower—Trump confounds those who predicted after 9/11 that iconic skyscrapers would never be built again. At the same time, Trump's height—originally pegged at more than 2,000 feet but eventually scaled back to 1,362 feet—suggests that the fear spawned by the attacks did have some effect."

In popular culture
In 2004, a top job at the tower, under the tutelage of Trump, was the prize for the winner of the first season of Trump's reality-TV show The Apprentice. The final confrontation between Batman and the Joker in the film The Dark Knight was shot in the Summer of 2007 at the very top of the construction site of the then partially completed tower.

The building's planning and redesign led to publicity in local and national media both before and during its construction. For example, on September 19, 2007, the Trump International Hotel and Tower was featured on an episode of the Discovery Channel series Build It Bigger titled "High Risk Tower".

When Fox News Channel embarked on its month-long six-city tour to celebrate its 15th anniversary, Neil Cavuto broadcast the network's one-hour Your World with Neil Cavuto show from the riverwalk at the Trump International Hotel & Tower on October 3, 2011.

The tower was also one of the key locations filmed in Chicago for the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

The building, as well as its address "N Michigan Av / E Wacker Dr", feature prominently in the opening of the TV series The Crazy Ones, created by David E. Kelley and aired by CBS during the 2013–2014 season. It is implied that the offices of the fictional advertising firm that is the topic of the series, Lewis, Roberts & Roberts, is inside the building.


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Vladimír Železný

Vladimír Železný (born 3 March 1945) is a Czech businessman and politician. He was the first CEO of TV NOVA, a popular Czech television station and was a member of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2009. As a media mogul with political influence, he has been compared to Rupert Murdoch and Silvio Berlusconi. He was convicted of tax evasion in 2007.

Early life and media career
Born to a Jewish family, Železný made headlines in 1968, at the age of 23, when he broadcast in defiance of orders pictures of Russian tanks driving through Prague during the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.

In 1993 he applied with five others for a license to broadcast a private television channel to show classical music, cultural programmes and current affairs. He obtained a €140m investment from the American firm, Central European Media Enterprises (CME) to fund the enterprise. Due to the Czech Media Council's rules against foreign ownership, the license was granted to a company controlled by Železný - CET21 - which, with the legal assistance of Miroslav Šipovič signed a licensing agreement with a joint venture partly owned by CME. In February 1994 he launched TV NOVA which became the most popular network, although it was criticised as undermining the cultural tradition of Czechs.

In 1999 CET21 terminated the licensing agreement, effectively seizing control of the station and making CME's investment worthless. Subsequently, some 20 suits started in front of the Czech courts and international tribunals. While the CME (at the time incorporated in Netherlands and controlled by American national Ronald Lauder) started UNCITRAL arbitration proceedings against the Czech Republic (in Stockholm) under the Bilateral investment treaty between the Czech Republic and Netherlands, Ronald Lauder himself started UNCITRAL arbitration proceedings against the Czech Republic (in London) under the Bilateral investment treaty between the Czech Republic and the United States. While the London tribunal dismissed the claim by Lauder, the Stockholm tribunal, effectively dealing with the same issue, found the Czech Republic liable for not protecting the CME's investment in the Czech Republic and awarded CME damages of $270 million, which were eventually paid from taxpayers' money. Under a different arbitration award, Železný was to pay damages of $23 million. CME also eventually regained control of the channel.

From November 2013 to March 2014 he was the CEO of TV Barrandov.

Political career
In 2002, Železný was elected to the Czech Senate for the Znojmo circuit. Analysts said he selected the seat based on the high ratings of TV Nova and high rates of unemployment and said he was "widely suspected" of seeking election only to secure parliamentary immunity.

In 2004 he was elected to the European Parliament. He founded the Independent Democrats (Nezávislí demokraté) in 2005 and was elected its chairman. In 2006 he unsuccessfully sought election to the Chamber of Deputies.

In 2008 he told Prague Radio he was a "fierce eurosceptic" and said the European Union was "an over-regulated environment which strongly resembles what we know from our communist past" In 2009 he launched Libertas.cz.

Criminal activities
He was suspected of selling property and making a speculative agreement with a Liechtenstein company to avoid paying his debt to CME. Later he was freed of the charges.

In 2001 he was publicly arrested and charged with tax evasion and defrauding creditors in connection with the Nova company. In 2003 the Senate voted to lift his immunity to allow the police to investigate and in 2005 the European Parliament followed suit. Later he was freed of the charges. In 2007 he was found guilty of tax evasion in connection to paintings he had imported in 1998, fined €250,000 and given a two-year suspended jail sentence with a two-year probation. The verdict was later upheld by the High Court in Prague.

Media, articles, case studies

 * Zelezny says he was offered higher preferences for bribe, praguemonitor.com/ČTK, 27 Mar 2006
 * EP-Abgeordneter Vladimír Železný in Prag vor Gericht, tschechien-online.org, 31 Jan 2006
 * Vladimír Zelezny: Der Medienboss, arte-tv.com, 6 Oct 2005
 * Czech Mate: CME and Vladimir Zelezny, Harvard Business Online, 10 Feb 2004
 * Mejstřík opět navrhl slyšení o TV Nova, senátoři jej znovu zamítli (Senator Martin Mejstřík tries again to initiate Senate hearing on TV Nova), cestazmeny.cz (Cesta změny), 23 May 2003
 * Mejstřík inicioval veřejné slyšení ve věci arbitráže Novy (Senator Martin Mejstřík trying to hold public hearing to seek recovery of funds), cestazmeny.cz, 18 Apr 2003

title: Vladimír Železný