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Welcome to the suggestion post for the Raketenjagdpanzer 4 Jaguar 2! This is one of Germany’s developments off of the original RakJPz 1, but what makes this interesting is that instead of the HOT missile used on the Jaguar 1, the Jaguar 2 uses the American BGM-71 TOW missile. Later on in its service life, it also used the TOW-2 ATGM. One unfortunate downside of the Jaguar 2 is that, due to the TOW missile mount, the ATGMs are manually reloaded and aimed by the gunner, who has to stick out of the vehicle. This is opposed to the Jaguar 1 with the HOT missile, which the gunner can aim, fire, and reload from inside the vehicle. Despite this drawback, I believe that if given the TOW-2, the Jaguar 2 could still be a worthy addition to the German ground tree. Time for some history of the Jaguar 2!
History
A Kanonjagdpanzer at a NATO training ground in Bergen-Hohne, West Germany, June 20th, 1963. This vehicle would be the basis for the Jaguar 2.
In the early 1980s, the Kanonenjagdpanzer 4-5 tank destroyer’s 90 mm main gun was no longer adequate against Soviet tanks, which now consisted of increasing numbers of T-64s and T-72s. Originally, there had been a number of ATGM-carrying tank destroyers. To deal with increasing threats as well as make use of existing Kanonenjagdpanzer chassis that had been taken out of service, a concept was put forward to manufacturer Thyssen-Henschel to combine the BGM-71 TOW ATGM system with the Kanonenjagdpanzer 4-5’s chassis. The aim of this concept was to create a mobile anti-tank system capable of destroying armor at a long range, with the crew being under armored protection.
To carry out the latter part of this goal, the initial design called for the crew to be entirely under armor, with all hatches closed. But this demand was soon dropped due to growing development costs, and instead the TOW launcher would be lifted in and out of the vehicle using a mechanically operated elevatable system. When the design was finalized, 165 Kanonenjagdpanzer 4-5s were converted into the new vehicle design, named Raketenjagdpanzer 4 Jaguar 2.
A picture of a Jaguar 2 with its TOW launcher out.
The Jaguar 2 in travel position, but with the gunner’s hatch opened. Note here that the gunner and commander’s panoramic sights are fully elevated.
While in a firing position, the Jaguar 2’s gunner and loader stand next to the weapon on an adjustable step inside the hull, with the lower half of their body covered by the tank’s armor, but the rest being exposed. In the event that the vehicle takes fire, the launcher and crew can be retracted into the vehicle within five seconds, protecting the gunner and loader entirely from enemy fire, but leaving the tank destroyer unable to fire.
The Jaguar 2 carries 12 missiles in total, and carries a tripod for the TOW launcher to allow the crew to employ the TOW system for use outside the vehicle. Along with the TOW launcher is a Texas Instruments AN/TAS-4 thermal imaging targeting system for night combat, found on the housing for the optical targeting sight, with the AN/TAS-4 having its own set of optics. The TOW system on the Jaguar 2 consists of four components; the carriage, transfer optics, mounts for the missile, and the loading device. From 1989, the Bundeswehr introduced the TOW-2 into service, with several Jaguar 2s receiving the new missile** **. This allowed the Jaguar 2 to have better penetration against armored targets, have less chance of the missile being affected by countermeasures, a higher hit probability, and a larger range, from 3,000 meters to 3,750 meters.
The add-on armor fitted to the front of the Jaguar 2.
During the conversion phase, Jaguar 2s received appliqué armor as well as sideskirts, the same later variants of the Raketenjagdpanzer 3 Jaguar 1 received. In addition to this, the eight smoke launchers previously found on the engine deck were moved to the front glacis plate. For close range defense, a 7.62x51 mm MG3 machine gun can be fitted to the commander or loader’s hatch on a ring mount. Both the commander and gunner have access to their own panoramic sights, which can be elevated up and down. The loader also has access to a rotating and tilt-able periscope.
The last Raketenjagdpanzer 4 Jaguar 2s were phased out of active service with the Bundeswehr in 1999, with a number remaining in German inventories and one in particular sitting next to the Raketenjagdpanzer 3 Jaguar 1 in the Deutsches Panzermuseum Munster. A number would also serve with Austria, but as command vehicles, rather than anti-tank vehicles.
The Jaguar 2 (right) sitting next to its close relative, the Jaguar 1 (left) at Deutsches Panzermuseum Munster.
Specifications
- Mass: 24.8 tons
- Crew: 4 (commander, gunner, loader, driver)
- Armor: 50 mm steel + applique armour
- Main armament: 1× TOW missile launcher
- Secondary armament: 1× 7.62 mm MG3 machine gun & 8× smoke dischargers on front glacis
- Length: 6.61 m
- Width: 3.12 m
- Height: 1.98 m
- Engine: 29,4 liter MTU MB 837 Aa V8 water-cooled multi-fuel diesel-engine, 500 hp (368 kW)
- Fuel capacity: 470 liters
- Operational range: 400 km
- Maximum speed: 70 km/h
- Ground Clearance: 440 mm
- Track width: 450 mm
- Gradeability: 58%
- Ground pressure: 0.63 kg/cm²
- Vertical step: 750 mm
- Trench: 2.0 m
- Fording: 1.20 m
Sources
- Blume, Peter. Kanone/Raketen-Jagdpanzer der Bundeswehr, Tank Destroyers Gun/Missile of the Modern Germany Army. Erlangen, Germany, Tankograd Publication, 2007.
- Kanonenjagdpanzer 90mm
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekUkjZ9dil0&ab_channel=Bundeswehr
- http://www.primeportal.net/tanks/hans-hermann_buhling/raketenjagdpanzer_4_jaguar_2/ (Walkaround of the Jaguar 2)
