- Yes
- No
caid’s suggestion #11
I would like to suggest an interesting version of one of the most famous Swiss tanks. the Panzer 61 AA9
The Panzer 61 AA was one of the latest modifications of the Panzer 61 made by Federal Construction Switzerland. the main modifications include the replacement of the 20mm coaxial by a 7.5mm and the ability to carry APFSDS.
there were 9 versions of the Panzer 61 that saw services. all named from AA1 to AA9. Another version also existed but they were named differently as the AA was for those in services. that version all feature something new, the difference was small to a point it barely mattered, but sometimes the difference is important. To help people understand the tank, I will include here a sort of recap of the family model by model
Spoiler
KW 30/52 (1952)= first model of the family, featuring Tiger’s engine and transmission, 90mm gun LMG coaxial, welded hull.
KW 30/57-I (1957) = new built tank. featuring a 20mm coaxial, side skirt, and a 90mm gun in an early turret
KW 30/57-II (1957) = 2nd built tank. The first tank was essentially a Panzer 58. featuring a 90mm gun, the same turret as the Panzer 58 and a 20mm coaxial
Panzer 58 prototype (1958)= Rearmed KW 30/57-II with a British 84mm gun. this tank was accepted for production and a pre-series was ordered
Panzer 58 (1961) = identical to the Panzer 58 Prototype but with a 105mm gun. A preseries of 10 tanks was built
Panzer 61 AA1 (1964)= nearly identical to the Panzer 58 but featuring the French electro-hydraulic turret transverse as later used on the AMX 30, slightly thicker armour and a 630 hp engine
Panzer 61 AA2 = modificaition Unknown
Panzer 61 AA3 = modificaition Unknown
Panzer 61 AA4 = modificaition Unknown
Panzer 61 AA5 = modificaition Unknown
Panzer 61 AA6 = modificaition Unknown
Panzer 61 AA7 = modificaition Unknown
Panzer 61 AA8 (1976) = Thermal sleeve on the gun, Splasher sheild on the hullfront
Panzer 61 AA9 (1982) = Replacement of the 20mm coax by a 7.5mm Coaxial. update of the FCS to allow APFSDS and modification of the ammo rack to hold APFSDS, new Radio, new rangefinder
sadly there are a lot of versions that I do not know the difference from each other. those differences are often minimal. like changing the airfilter of the tank, or the installation of a storage rack on the rear of the turret. those aren’t always noticeable and would not be a game changer. from the models AA1 and AA8, the tank was essentially the same. the differences are so minimal that it’s often not considered as a variant on his own. however, the AA9 version is having a huge change in firepower. the 20mm was removed in favour of a 7.5mm LMG simply because the Swiss army came to consider the low ammo carried for the 20mm did not surpass his benefit and the 7.5mm was capable of carrying a lot more ammunition and still could be used against unarmoured vehicles. but the most important is the capacity to fire APFSDS.
here is a distinction to be made, if you go inside an older Panzer 61 and load the gun an APFSDS for a 105mm, the tank will fire it without issue. nothing will beak, nothing will explode and no one will get injured. but the older Panzer 61 couldn’t properly use it in combat. for 2 reasons.
- the gun’s sight was not configured to calculate the drop of the APFSDS (making it hard to hit a target at long distance)
- The ammo rack couldn’t hold the APFSDS
before the AA9 modification, the Panzer 61 could only carry APDS, HE and HESH rounds. but the most important part was the ammo rack couldn’t hold the APFSDS. That sounds like a problem easy to solve, but it wasn’t solved before 1982. mostly because they just didn’t feel the need to have APFSDS. it was only in the late 70s that Switzerland considered the use of APFSDS and introduced it for the 105mm gun. first by importing Israeli APFSDS, they soon produced it for themselves. As such, the AA9 have a much greater anti-tank capacity and has a noticeable advantage over the other variants of the Panzer 61. this variant was introduced in 1982 every Panzer 61 was upgraded to this standard and remained in service until 1994 when the Panzer 87 was introduced. the Panzer 61 was sold to a private owner or scrapped.
Firepower
the main armament of this tank is a 105 mm Panzerkanone 60. this gun is a Swiss-made 105mm L7 and no important modifications are known. this gun is a rather famous gun for the early MBT and can be found in many of them and was produced by many countries that also created their variant. this gun can be found in the British Centurion, German Leopard and even the American Patton. the Panzer 61 is only one more tank in the huge list of tanks that carry this gun. but not to make it look uninteresting, this gun is a reliable one that can use decent ammunition. the AA9 is the first Paner 61 that was capable of firing APFSDS rounds. this allows the tank to get around 330 mm of penetration at combat distance. This is a fair improvement over the APDS round that it normally had. the gun has a fire rate of 9 rounds minutes and an elevation pretty standard of -10° and + 21° which is a bit better than the normal elevation. toward the rear, the depression is limited to -7° because of the engine deck. the turret’s transverse engine is the same as the AMX 30 which should give the same 30° sec. the tank also carries two 7.5mm MG 51 machine guns. one is placed as Coaxial, another is on the roof for close defence. the roof LMG have an elevation of -4° and + 77°. the tank also features a coincidence rangefinder to help it hit the targets at longer distances.
Mobility
This tank has an average mobility over tanks of the same type (Patton, Centurion, T-54.) which is not the best of the best. but it’s not bad either. weighting 40.7 tonnes, this tank was fairly heavy. Featuring a Mercedes-Benz MB837.931-51 Ba 500, 29900cc, Diesel Supercharged V8 providing 630hp @2200rpm, the tank have a power-weight of around 15.5 hp/ton. the transmission is a SLM Winterthur, 6F/2R, Semi-Automatic. the tank is known to have a particularly sensitive steering which makes the tank prone to react to the driver’s command. feature that was also shared on the German Tiger 1 and probably heritated from the KW 30/52 who used the Tiger’s engine and transmission. the tank still has a pretty decent top speed of 51 km/h and is considered very agile despite its weight. this tank was designed to drive on the tight and dangerous alpine road.
Protection
The KW 30/57 was having a reviewed protection over the KW 30/52. the front of the hull was reviewed and rounded but retained the same thickness as the model from 1952 and was welded with 2 plates. the side armour was also reduced to 30mm but a spare track was added on the front. the turret was the most improved with the frontal armour passing to 100mm and the side armour to 50mm but the rear was also reduced to 35 mm. The tank also received 6 smoke launchers which were to be launched 2 by 2.
cool camo of the AA9 (thermal sleeve was removed)
Spoiler
here are the Panzer 61 AA7 (above) and Panzer 61 AA9 (below) to show the difference between the variants.
here is the standard ammunition visible for the Panzer 61 before the AA9
source
- Panzer 61 AA9/4, Pz 61 AA9/4 - Kampfpanzer - Raupenfahrzeuge | militärfahrzeuge.ch
- Medium tank Panzer 61 (Switzerland)
- Pz 61
- Tiger I Information Center - Transmission and Steering
Spoiler
