Monthly Archives: December 2013
Memo regarding the procurement status of SPG, SPAAG and tanks
Original title: PM ang. akv, lvkv och strv enligt tygmaterielplan 1958/66
A memo from the Vehicle Bureau dated 1958-05-02, discussing the procurement status of current SPG’s, SPAAG’s and tanks (well, one of each, really). The SPG (akv 151) is built on a Krv chassis but now it seems like the Krv project will be cancelled, which is problematic. The Krv project itself is likely to get cancelled because of problems with the ammunition; options for keeping it alive is simply purchasing a new gun plus ammunition for it off-the-shelf abroad. There are two SPAAG alternatives; one is to purchase a “Grantham” SPAAG off-the-shelf, the other is doing something with the indigenous lvkv fm/49 (aka. lvkv 42).
Archive reference: SE/KrA/0266/002/01:H/F I/19
Memo regarding 105mm tracked SPG
Original title: VPM ang. 10,5 cm artilleripjäs i bandlavettage
A memo (dated 1958-06-13) from the Bureau of Weapons regarding tracked 105mm SPG’s. Bofors already has two alternatives based on the VAK 40 (aka. lvkv fm/49) chassis drawn up, one with the gun in the open but space available for the crew to sit under armor while the vehicle is moving, and one with the entire gun installation under 8-10 mm armor. The memo then goes on to discuss the current status of similar foreign projects and mentions a French project with a 105 mm gun on an AMX 13 chassis as well as three American projects (M37, M52 and an experimental T195).
Finally, the memo lists some technical requirements that would seem reasonable for such a weapon system.
Archive reference: SE/KrA/0266/002/01:H/F I/19
Project EMIL: a summary
This is a report of the then-current status of the EMIL project (also known as krv, kranvagn, project 6400, etc), dated 1952-10-15. Over the course of some hundred pages or so (although not all of the original pages seem to be in the archive I found it in) it covers in great detail what a tank like EMIL needs to do and why it needs to do it.
Archive reference: SE/KrA/0266/002/01:H/F I/19
Note that this report was originally classified top secret (“of great importance for the security of the realm”); the reason it’s in an archive volume dated 1958 is because its classification status was reduced to “regular secret” at that point; top secret and regular secret archives are kept separately.
Weapon effectiveness charts, strv 74 and strv 81 vs IS-3 and T-54
A few charts showing the effective weapon ranges and possible penetration angles for the strv 81 (Centurion mk 3) and the strv 74 when pitted against the IS-3 and the T-54. The charts have a note on them referring to what is presumably a more detailed description of these estimations but I have not been able to locate that document (yet).
Archive reference: SE/KrA/0266/002/01:H/F I/13
Note that the charts are dated 1957-10-18, but were found in a volume of documents listed as containing documents from 1956.
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