Development of tankett m/49
These documents from 1949 (I’ve attempted to order them chronologically) describe the early stages of development of tankett m/49, a very cheap and light construction (intended for about 6.5 metric tons) originally envisioned in three versions: one with only machine guns, one with a tank gun (initially 75 mm) and one “special” that could be armed with things like flamethrowers. The development work was contracted to Landsverk (chassis), Bofors (gun) and Volvo (engine and drive train).
Initially the “gun tankette” was armed with the short 75 mm gun used on the strv m/42, but as the project progressed both a 84 mm and a 105 mm gun option were investigated. Eventually the vehicle would enter service as ikv 72, where ikv stands for “infanterikanonvagn”, which translates to something like “infantry gun carriage”.
Archive reference: SE/KrA/0062/D/01/016:H/F I/17 and SE/KrA/0062/D/01/016:H/F I/18
