Mowag 3m1 Pirat. swiss Marder Prototype

CaID · May 6, 2024, 12:44am

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I would like to suggest a rather unique tank, the Swiss Mowag 3m1 Pirat

The Mowag 3M1 Pirat was an improvement of the Mowag Pirat 18. the tank was built in 1966 in competition with Henschel and Hanomag for the new German IFV in replacement of the HS.30 Lang which was a very unreliable tank. while not without a chance, the Swiss were not intended to be selected but only allowed to join the competition to share expertise on military vehicles with the Germans. tested until early 1968, the 3m1 Pirat was built in 6 prototypes and was considered the 3rd generation of prototype for the new German IFV. Going in association with Hanomag, the Swiss engineer developed a new IFV that was much closer to the Marder that we know now. the 3M1 was not adopted by the Germans and was tested by Honomag and Mowag as well as by the Swiss army. of the 6 tanks built, only one is known to have survived and can be found in perfect condition at the Full Museum.

Firepower

The main armament of this tank is the 20mm HS 820. an auto-cannon created by the French branch of Hispano-Suiza and based on the HS.404 which was a WW2 auto-cannon. this auto-cannon is rather powerful and can use a wide selection of ammunition, including APCR, and has around 50mm of penetration at short range. while not perfectly good against tanks, it is still capable of penetrating WW2 medium tanks such as the T-34-76 by shooting at some weak spot on the front or just by shooting on the side. this gun is identical to the Oerlikon KAD but with different ammunition available in Switzerland. the tank carries around 800 rounds in a 100-round belt. the elevation of the gun is important. with -7° of depression and + 60° of elevation, the tank would not be the best to use in uneven ground but still capable of doing it and also capable of engaging planes but the turret rotation is not fast enough to track them properly. while Gaijin may be tempted to make it a SPAA, this tank is definitively a light tank to me as there is SPAA more fit in this rank and no proper tank for Switzerland at this BR.

Mobility

The mobility of this tank is pretty good. with a top speed of 70 km/h forward and even a reverse speed of 24 km/h this tank would be pretty comfortable on any terrain. the weight reaching 24.8 tonnes is pretty heavy for a light tank. powered by a MOWAG V10 engine, 2M10DV, displacement 13,500ccm ³ providing 315 kW (422 hp), the acceleration would be a bit better than the Russian T-34 but would have a much better speed and reverse. the tank would have no difficulty maneuvering around the enemy and getting close to them.

Protection

The armor of this tank is pretty good for an IFV. at least if we believe the picture, the armor can reach around 40mm on the frontal arc which can be estimated by looking at the welding line of the armor. the side seems to be around 20mm which is still decent enough. this makes the tank have frontal protection on the hull almost as good as the T-34 which is by itself pretty decent. Ideally, the armor needs to be measured physically which can be done by just examining the vehicle in the museum with the proper tools (usually you can touch the tank in the museum). considering the tank is almost 25 tonnes which is only a few tonnes lighter than the T-34-76, the protection level may very well be close. the crew officially includes 3 men, the command and drive are in the hull, on each corner, and a gunner is in the turret. but it would be a waste to have the remote turret on the rear not manned. that turret was supposed to be used by the passenger on their rear which I suggest to give it 2 extra men to man that turret. giving it a total of 5 men well spread in the tank making it hard to take them all out in a single hit. this nearly guaranteed the tank to survive at least the first hit. A total of 8 smoke launchers were also installed on the turret and were intended to be fired two at a time which gave the vehicles the capacity to create 4 smoke screens.

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Armament