Schützenpanzer 63/73, Swiss M113 with Swedish turret

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caid’s suggestion #165

I would like to suggest a rather interesting tank, the Swiss Schützenpanzer 63/73

The Schützenpanzer 63/73 or Spz 63/73 was the Schützenpanzer 63 with modification of 1973.

the Schützenpanzer 63 was introduced in 1963 after a competition between Mowag, Saurer, and FMC Corporation. while the Swiss Saurer and Mowag were offering much more advanced vehicles than FMC Corporation, it was FCM who got the contract with their M113 in 1963 due to the much cheaper cost and ease of maintenance. this caused a sort of shock as FMC was offering a vehicle that was neither meeting the requirement (asking for an IFV and not an APC) nor was the only non-Swiss competitor for this pretty important contract. but to encourage the Swiss manufacturer to keep developing their IFV, the Swiss army promised that a second chance would come soon. this led to the development of the Mowag Tornado which was hoping to replace the M113 in the 70s. but a 2nd sort of Betrayal was the upgrade of the M113 (now called Schützenpanzer 63 in the Swiss services) with the Swedish Hagglunds turret. the M113 in 1973. the M113 was now a proper IFV and proven to be long-lasting in the Swiss services as it was still in services up to this day (after a new upgrade in 1989 and 2007 which both would be suggested in their topic) about 1,475 Spz 63 was used in the swiss army which makes it the most numerous armored vehicles used by Switzerland of all time (so far) and was used in many variants which include mortar carrier, Command vehicles, and engineer vehicles all with their variant.

while there was another very similar version, here in this suggestion, I will focus on the basic Spz 63/73 only. this was an M113 with the additional front plate of the M113A2 on the front, no smoke launchers, no added composite armor kit, and the Hagglunds turret. this version was the first IFV version of the M113 used by Switzerland. about 400 of those tank receive such modification.

Firepower
the main armament is a 20 Kannone 1948/73 which is probably a Swiss modification of the 20mm Akan m/47D to allow the weapon to use Swiss standard ammunition. this highly reduces the firepower of this tank but it remains capable of deal penetration similar to the 20mm Kwk 38 in the German tech tree. only with a much better fire rate and much more ammunition. this means when used well, this armament can kill 4-5 enemies before reloading. but ideally, you would need to flank the enemy. the tank carries a large amount of ammunition with 950 rounds carried. there are 700 rounds in the belt of 140 rounds in 5 containers, 60 rounds in the belt of 30 rounds each ready to use in the turret, and an additional 190 rounds in 10 10-round clips which are normally the only AP rounds. the gun is capable of magazine feed as well as belt feed. the belt can vary from 30 to 140 rounds and the magazine is always 10 rounds. depending on which BR we want this vehicle to be, we can change the ammunition loaded in the gun as standard of the game. this can have a balance effect and I will leave it to Gaijin to decide.

Mobility
The tank was powered by a Detroit 6-cylinder 6V-53 engine that provided 215 hp. this engine is a bit weak in comparison to the engine found on other tanks but it’s all relative as this tank only weighs 11.9 tonnes. this gives the tank a power weight of 18.07 hp/tonnes which is more than enough to make the tank feel good on the battlefield. the tank has a top speed of 64 km/h which is pretty good in any rank and a reverse speed of 15 km/h. That makes the tank capable of moving around easily in all terrain including the soft ground. the tank is also amphibious with a top speed of 6 km/h in the water.

Protection
The armor of this tank is nothing to be crazy about. despite of the decent thickness on the front and side, the armor is made of aluminum for the whole chassis which makes it quite weak against anti-tank rounds. about anything better than a Heavy machine gun will penetrate it quite easily. The turret is not any better. while made of steel, the thickness is still not enough to take a hit from HMG safely. the tank is still all enclosed and able to take LMG fire from about all sides. the crew of 3 men includes a gunner in the turret, a commander in a low-profile copula next to the turret on the left side of the tank, and a driver in front of the commander. the engine is at the front right side of the tank which gives you a chance to absorb a hit without hurting the crew but the engine is likely to need repair. the rear is the passenger compartment which is capable of having 7 soldiers. unless the infantry gets added to the game, this compartment would remain empty and not have any critical parts there that could be needed in battle. this empty rear space can give the crew a buffer against APHE round hitting the rear as there is about 2m or more from the fuselage and the crew. the tank does not have any smoke or other type of defensive device and is a little big and very flat on all sides making it easy to penetrate and hard to hide.

other similar vehicles


Mortar carried version


late version with external rack instant of the add-on front plate


this version probably got his rack or armor plate removed for whatever reason


1989 version featuring the add-on armour and the smoke launchers.

Sources

Turret


The Switzerland supporter discord is open to everyone

If you like to see some wacky tanks if you want to see unique aircraft, if you want to see something about a new nation that could make it to the game. Switzerland is for you

the Swiss Discord is dedicated to researching Swiss military material and support. no qualification is needed. if you want to help or have a look around, follow this link and we would be happy to welcome you

this link is valid for the first 100 persons
the 50 first to join get an automatic membership

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2

Very much reminds me of the Pbv 301. Would be a good SPAAG at the same BR. +1

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3

The mortar version would be a hilarious low-tier event vehicle. Kinda like the Matilda Hedgehog. It won’t hit often but it’d be super satisfying when it does.

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4

Ooh this gets my +1. Would be a neat addition to the game

1 Like
5

Would love to see a few more things based on the m113 hull +1

3 Likes