Type 62 SPH

[Miraz05]

Would you like to see this in-game?

• 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:

Personal research.

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/bangladesh/army-modernization.htm

http://www.military-today.com/artillery/oto_melara_mod_56.htm

[JamesPond1200]

Another great addition for China! +1

[Miraz05]

Rare picture of Type 62 SPH

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid04ysETbz4PWdn9cSfwcYBQw7PrwqYFw4GJXWfEaxaXmb4pNQ9dDew3ort5GVTuczbl&id=100064574723147&mibextid=Nif5oz

[Spr4yz]

This is a bit of a hard sell for me. The gun seems to only have access to HE with 2 kg filler, and possibly the M67 HEAT round that only has about 100mm of pen.
If it was a WW2 vehicle, sure. But this is a mid-to-late Cold War vehicle which puts it in a different perspective.

If you have any info on the ammo Bangladesh uses that would be cool.

[warner7]

Bangladesh vehicle with Chinese hull and Italian OTO-Melara, what a combo. +1 for me

[Miraz05]

I’m not sure about the ammo. This vehicle didn’t see much service.Ammo shouldn’t be issue. Gaijin always doesn’t give historical ammo. Currently Oto melera guns are used in ceremonies so they might have stopped buying new ammo for it. Currently Bangladesh produces 105mm HE rounds for howitzers. Maybe those are used nowadays. But I’m not sure which rounds were used back then.

[Miraz05]

Another Rare picture