- Yes
- No
caid’s suggestion #58
I would like to suggest a rather unique tank, the Swiss Mowag Skorpion
The Mowag Skorpion was a tank destroyer developed by Mowag in 1957. the tank was ultra-light and very low profile to make it more mobile and harder to spot. this tank was eliminating all elements that were not essential for his use. This includes a roof. intended for the mountainous terrain of the Swiss Alps, the tank offered a high range of elevation of the gun to aim down to the valley or high to the peak. but the tank suffered from the fact it did not have a roof making it accumulate the snow inside. the vehicle wasn’t adopted but the idea was good which led to the development of the HS.30 light tank and Jagdpanzer Pirat.
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 a 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 -20° which allows it to be used easily in uneven terrain such as the mountains. the elevation is also pretty good with +25° 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.
Mobility
The mobility of this tank is pretty good. a top speed of 60 km/h forward with a pretty good power-ration would make this tank capable of moving around quite well. the vehicle is very light, with a weight of only 5.955 kg (or rounded up to 6 tonnes) it make it one of the lightest tanks with 90mm gun. the engine model is unknown, but it is known to provide a power of 141 hp at 3600 rpm. the engine placed at the front right of the tank balances a bit the weight of the tank. the power-weight ration reaches 23.5 hp/ton and the transmission offers 5 forward speeds and 1 reverse. that makes this tank have decent agility.
Protection
this tank’s main protection is its size. the vehicle’s hull is just a bit bigger than the Russian ASU-57 and about the same size as the German Waffentragger or the M22 Locust. this makes this tank quite easy to hide. besides the small size, the very good gun depression allows it to fire while standing on the counter-slope of the hills. this makes it even harder to spot when you only have the gun’s visible shield. the protection is not great but still okay. with 15mm of armor on the frontal side and 10mm on every other side, it can protect his crew against HMG. but the biggest flaw in his protection is the open top. the vehicle is so small that even the driver has his head exposed. that make this vehicle quite vulnerable to air attack and artillery. but also HE for sure. the crew of 3 men includes 2 men in the turret and one in the front left side of the hull.
source
- https://www.e-periodica.ch/cntmng?pid=rms-001%3A1957%3A102%3A%3A816
- Swiss Tanks – Part 3 (Modern Tank Destroyers) | For the Record
Spoiler
gun
- ...а потом пришли ПТРК. Орудие 9-cm Panzerabwehrkanone 1957. - Не теряйте мужества - худшее впереди! — ЖЖ?
- 9 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 1957 - Panzerabwehr - Geschütze | militärfahrzeuge.ch
- 9 cm Panzerabwehr-Kanone 1957 – ZDT Zuger Depot Technikgeschichte
just for comparison. this is the size & mobility of the Skorpion vs the locust.
since the firepower and protection are completely different, I only show what they are alike to give an idea of the feeling this vehicle could have in your hand.
