- Yes
- No
Brief History: Bangladesh Army had a large fleet of Type 62 light tank. Soon they became obsolete in modern day situation.Because of this reason Bangladesh Army decided to convert them into Self Propelled Artillery and Self Propelled Anti Aircraft Gun and APC.All the spaag variants were later converted into apcs .Type 62 SPH is one of the variant of type 62 modernization program of Bangladesh army. The tank was upgraded at same time when the other type 62s were upgraded to apc and SPAA.The SPH saw a short service similar to other variants. This might have happened because of the cramped turret space.The SPH was upgraded locally with preexisting equipments which were in the service of Bangladesh.The tank was probably retired some time between 2000-1995.The tanks were later scrapped,one of them currently exists at Bangabandhu Military Museum.The turret of this tank has been completely remade.This sph was really rare very few pictures are available.Also very few information about the sph is available.(Note:The Name type 62 SPH might not be the actual designation but this name is widely used all over the internet. I think the actual name of it is ‘OTO Self Propelled Howitzer’. This name is used in many old blogposts and youtube videos). This tank doesn’t have much history to discuss about.
Speed: 60 Km/h on road
35 Km/h on dirt
Armor: Hull armor is same as before.
Turret armor: Unknown
Main Gun: Original gun was replaced with a new OTO Melara mod 56 pack Howitzer. The SPH uses central fixed casemate design to fit the gun(probably). The gun uses standard US M1 ammunition but in Bangladeshi service the gun might have used Chinese 105mm shells. Also at that time Bangladesh army’s only 105mm Howitzer was the OTO melara mod 56.There is probably a new ammo stowage in the turret’s backside.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OTO_Melara_Mod_56,[https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/OTO_Melara_Mod_56](https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/OTO_Melara_Mod_56#References), OTO Melara Mod 56 105mm Pack Howitzer / Lightweight Artillery Piece.)
Main gun compared with OTO Melara Mod 56
Spoiler
Muzzle Velocity: 416 m/s
Elevation: -7 to +65 degrees
Traverse: Probably 0 degrees if it’s a casemate turret. Otherwise it should be 360 degrees.
Max Range: 11 km
Recoil: Hydro pneumatic
Crew: 4. Crew layout is similar to what it used to be in the original one. 2 in the turret and 2 in the Hull.
Secondary gun: 12.7mm machine gun Dshk.
**Rest of the specifications are same as original type 62.**Only the weight of this tank might have been increased or maybe it’s decreased. Also the new turret might be very lightly armored.
Pictures:
Spoiler
Sources:
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/bangladesh/army-modernization.htm
http://www.military-today.com/artillery/oto_melara_mod_56.htm
