The main battle tank of Sweden under the index STRV-103, also known under the designation "S", is of particular interest, because for the first time in the world history of tank building quite interesting design solutions were used, in particular - the installation of two different types of engines - diesel and gas turbine, the absence of a tower, a gun stationary relative to the entire hull of the tank with aiming at the target by turning the hull in the horizontal and vertical planes, double booking - the main one for vital components and the crew and auxiliary for secondary mechanisms. The crew of the Swedish tank consisted of 3 people. The tank was mass-produced from 1966 to 1971, in the 1990s it was removed from service and replaced by German tanks "Leopard-2".
In the early post-war years, Sweden did not develop new tanks. In 1953, 80 Centurion Mk3 tanks with an 83.4 mm cannon were purchased in England, and a little later another 270 Centurion Mk 10 tanks with a 105 mm gun. However, these vehicles did not fully satisfy the Swedish army, therefore, from the mid-50s, they began to consider the possibility of designing their own tank. At the same time, the country's military leadership was guided by the following military concept: a tank is an absolutely necessary element in the country's defense system both now and in the foreseeable future. It is especially needed to protect the southern plains of Sweden and the Baltic Sea coast.
Careful consideration of the geographical conditions of Sweden, along with the manning system of its army, led the designers to the conclusion that it was advisable to search for an absolutely new tank concept that would ideally fit into the specific conditions of this Scandinavian country. According to experts, the new tank was supposed to surpass the "Centurion" in service and at the same time be easier in terms of crew training.
To meet the requirements for tactical and operational mobility, the maximum weight of the tank was limited to 43 tons, if possible, the tank had to be buoyant. These conflicting requirements were further complicated by the fact that the tank needed decent armor protection, which would provide it with protection from new PTSs. The search for a solution that would satisfy the requirements for reducing the size of the tank and at the same time facilitate the training of the crew, led to the abandonment of the classic layout with a rotating turret and multi-level crew accommodation (driver in the hull, the rest in the turret). This arrangement, especially taking into account the loader, who needed to provide space almost human-sized, significantly increased the height of the combat vehicle.
These considerations formed the concept of the new tank. The tank gun and coaxial machine guns were rigidly fixed in the hull. The horizontal guidance of the weapon was carried out using a conventional hydrostatic turning mechanism, on dry ground the tank turned 90 degrees in a second, vertical guidance was carried out by pumping oil in a hydropneumatic suspension from the front road wheels to the rear and, accordingly, vice versa.
Due to the use of unusual layout solutions, the designers were able to combine high firepower, good protection and mobility in a tank with a fairly limited mass. The tank received a reckless layout with a "casemate" installation of the main weapons in the hull. The cannon, mounted in the frontal sheet of the hull, did not have the ability to pump horizontally and vertically. Guidance was carried out by changing the position of the vehicle body in two planes. In the front of the tank there was an engine-transmission compartment, then a control compartment, which was also a combat compartment. In the manned compartment to the right of the gun was the commander, to the left was the driver (who also served as the gunner), behind him, facing the stern, was the radio operator.
For a long time, the developers were faced with the question of choosing a power plant, the cooling system of which would be placed in a well-protected space behind the fighting compartment and inside the main armored hull. The cooling system was additionally protected by large fuel tanks, which were installed outside the main armored hull and had anti-fragmentation and anti-bullet armor. The space in the front of the additional armored hull was considered suitable for the installation of intake and exhaust manifolds, air cleaners, since their damage in combat conditions did not cause an immediate failure of the tank. This conclusion was confirmed during tests, the tank could perform a combat mission for several hours before it began to require repairs. The development of the tank's power plant began in 1959, after studying all possible options, the commission came to a unanimous opinion about the need to use a combined power plant of diesel and gas-turbine engines.
In such an installation, they were attracted by the cost-effectiveness criterion, which was best suited for this tank. Firstly, such an installation was, in fact, the only option that could be applied in the space allocated for this. All others would require a significant increase in silhouette or a weakening of frontal protection. Secondly, the installation of a diesel engine and a gas turbine engine on both sides of the gun made it possible to make maintenance of these engines available. Moreover, the combined power plant, each of the engines of which was able to provide the tank with mobility (albeit with a number of limitations), was more reliable in combat conditions.
The main armament of the tank was a 105-mm gun with a barrel length of 62 caliber, which received a fairly simple automatic loader and a rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute. The loading store was connected to 3 ammunition stores, which were located in the rear of the tank behind the fighting compartment. Shop No. 1 had 4 vertical shafts of 5 shots horizontally - a total of 20 shells, shop No. 2 had 5 vertical shafts and the same number of shots horizontally - only 25 shells. Shop number 3 had 1 row for 5 rounds. Thus, the tank's ammunition consisted of 50 rounds. The shutter of the gun and recoil devices were located above the magazines between the two blocks of the cooling system. This approach to the layout made it possible to provide a convenient opportunity to fill ammunition magazines with the best ballistic protection, while the height of the tank did not exceed 1.9 m.
When reloading the gun, the spent cartridge case was thrown out through the hatch located in the rear of the vehicle. Together with an ejector located in the middle of the barrel, this significantly reduced the gas content of the tank's habitable module. Reloading empty automatic loaders was done manually through two hatches located to the rear of the hull and took 5-10 minutes. On the left side of the frontal sheet in a fixed armored casing, two 7, 62-mm machine guns were mounted with an ammunition load of 2750 rounds. Their guidance was also carried out by turning the body, i.e. machine guns played the role of coaxial cannon. The gun and machine guns were fired by the driver and the tank commander. Above the hatch of the tank commander, another machine gun was installed on the turret, which could perform the function of an anti-aircraft gun. This turret could be equipped with an armored shield.
The driver and the tank commander had at their disposal binocular combined optical devices with variable zoom magnification. A laser rangefinder was built into the gunner's sight. The commander's observation devices were stabilized in the vertical plane, and the commander's turret in the horizontal plane. In addition, interchangeable periscopic blocks were used, 4 blocks were installed in the commander's cupola, one for the driver, 2 blocks for the radio operator. All optical instruments were covered with armored shutters. The protection of the tank was provided not only by the thickness of the armor of its hull, but also by sufficiently large angles of inclination of the armor plates, primarily, of the upper frontal plate of the hull. Additional protection was a small area of side and frontal projections, as well as a trough-shaped bottom of the tank.
The constant increase in the effectiveness of the means of destruction of tanks on the battlefield, forced the Swedish engineers to undertake the modernization of the STRV-103 tank, which for almost 30 years was the Swedish MBT. First of all, it was necessary to increase the protection of the tank from cumulative ammunition. The design features of the upper frontal plate of the tank hull did not allow the use of hinged dynamic protection units in full, but the Swedish designers found a very original way out of this situation. In the front of the hull, they installed an armored steel grill, which was able to withstand up to 4 hits from anti-tank grenades. To protect the sides, Swedish engineers decided to use 18 hinged canisters (9 pieces on each side), this solution, in addition to a significant increase in the fuel supply (by 400 liters), would also serve as protection against cumulative ammunition entering the side.
What this Swedish tank was all the same has not been decided in many countries until now. For example, Great Britain, Australia and the United States gave it very high marks, but as an anti-tank self-propelled gun. The Swedes, to the last, considered their brainchild a full-fledged tank. The only thing he was never denied was the rather unusual design.
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