- Yes
- No
caid’s suggestion #44
I would like to suggest a rather unique tank, the Swiss Mowag Jagdpanzer Pirat
The Mowag Jagdpanzer Pirat was an anti-tank version of the Mowag Pirat which was a family of light tanks that was proposed to Switzerland and developed in parallel to the German Marder IFV in which the Swiss engineer participated. the Pirat was a light tank in all but name. Designed to engage the armored targets exclusively from the mountainous area, it was intended to be the alpine equivalent of the AMX 13 which was in service in Switzerland but ill-suited to the alpine terrain. while the AMX 13 was used in the more flat region of Switzerland, no good light tank was capable of serving in the mountainous area which covers an important part of the country. the intention of the Swiss to introduce a tank destroyer for the alpine terrain was to stimulate the Swiss military industry and many vehicles (mostly from Mowag who designed a handful of different vehicles) were proposed. the most interesting was closer to a light tank than a tank destroyer. this was mainly the Mowag Pirat and the Hispano-Suiza HS.30 who both featured a very light tank with a 90mm gun in a fully relative turret. the trial shows that both tank was finalist and tested together and compared to the AMX 13 which was going to be the equivalent for the plains of Switzerland (because there is a small part of Switzerland that is fairly flat). However, neither of them was chosen as the Swiss army finally decided that they didn’t need a new tank destroyer. tested in 1958, the tank was sold to a private owner and was used for movies. The last time I heard, it was in Belgium.
Firepower
the main armament of this tank is a 90 mm Panzerabwehrkanone 57 which is a low-pressure anti-tank gun. similar to the Cockerill Mk.III or the 90mm D.921 gun uses HEAT round to allow it to get high penetration. the gun by itself is an evolution of the Panzeradwehrkanone 50 but with a new cartridge with more propellant and more pressure. yet the projectile is identical on both guns. this allows the gun to have a velocity of 650 m/sec. the HEAT round allows penetration of 250 mm which is fairly decent. Besides the firepower, the turret was also pretty flexible to make it adapted to the alpine terrain. with a depression of -15° which allows it to be used easily in uneven terrain such as the mountains. the elevation is also pretty good with +23° which allows it to fire high to the peaks. the gun also features a decent fire rate of 10 rounds/minute. the turret rotation is unknown but should be around 14°/sec which is not impressive. the ammunition carried is unknown and I would not place any guesses there. the turret also features a 12.7 mm coaxial machine gun that was used as a rangefinder.
Mobility
The mobility of this tank is pretty good. with a top speed of 60 km/h forward and even a reverse speed of 16 km/h this tank would be pretty comfortable on any terrain. the weight reaching 13.5 tonnes is pretty light too. powered by a Ford 4-cylinder gasoline Displacement 8750 cm³ providing 300 hp, it would be rather very mobile. with a high acceleration because of the power weight giving 22.22 hp/tonnes. this makes the tank a fast boy to a similar level to the M22 Locust.
Protection
The armor of this tank is pretty light. lighter than the HS.30 despite being of the same weight. but it is still decently armored. the tank has 20mm on the front which would normally be capable of taking 12.7mm fire on the frontal arc as long the angle is not too good for the HMG. but it would barely be capable of taking anything else. the crew of 4 men is decent with 3 men in the turret. this means the tank may be destroyed with a single hit well placed on the turret. the tank also features six smoke launchers. this allows to fire 2 smokes at a time 3 times to provide more cover. the tank also features something very interesting, it’s very small making it hard to spot. the tank is about the size of the AMX 13 FL-11 which is fairly smaller than the M24 chaffee.
source
- Private Site
- https://www.militairespectator.nl/sites/default/files/bestanden/uitgaven/1918/1960/1960-0357-01-0137.PDF
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