15,5 cm bandkanon 1 (15,5 cm bkan 1, pronounced "b-kan"), meaning " tracked cannon 1",
was a Swedish
self-propelled artillery
Self-propelled artillery (also called locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled mo ...
vehicle in use with the
Swedish Army
The Swedish Army ( sv, svenska armén) is the land force of the Swedish Armed Forces.
History
Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1521, when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young able men as body guards for the insurgent nobleman Gustav Vas ...
from 1967 to 2003, developed by
Aktiebolaget Bofors
AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years.
History
Located in ...
. Its
product name was (), meaning roughly "Tracked Automotive Gun 155 mm L/50" (
literal translation
Literal translation, direct translation or word-for-word translation, is a translation of a text done by translating each word separately, without looking at how the words are used together in a phrase or sentence.
In Translation studies, trans ...
: "Wagon Cannon 155 mm L/50").
Bkan 1 was one of the world's heaviest and most powerful (in terms of ''volume of fire'') self-propelled artillery vehicles in use during its service.
It had a 155 mm
autocannon
An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bull ...
with an exceptionally high
rate of fire
Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. This can be influenced by several factors, including operator training level, mechanical limitations, ammunition availability, and weapon condition. In m ...
, being able to fire 15 shells in 45 seconds with one round preloaded and full magazine of two rows of seven rounds in a clip.
The magazine could then be reloaded with a built-in hoist in about 2 minutes.
Each
shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard ou ...
had a weight of 47 kg and a tactical range of 28 km.
Its chassis was based on a lengthened
Stridsvagn 103
The Stridsvagn 103 (Strv 103), also known as the Alternative S and S-tank, is a Swedish post-World War II main battle tank, designed and manufactured in Sweden. "Strv" is the Swedish military abbreviation of ''stridsvagn'', Swedish for chariot an ...
with one extra road wheel. The first variant, the Bkan 1A, used the same engine as the first Strv 103's and was thus somewhat under powered since that engine was designed to drive a 30-ton tank unlike the Bkan 1 which weighed over 50 tons. Despite this its mobility was more than adequate for its role as an artillery piece.
[Ointresse Bandkanon 1](_blank)
/ref>
Use
The plan was to produce about 70 vehicles, but due to cuts in defence budget only 26 bandkanon 1s were manufactured. They were used as divisional artillery in Norrland
Norrland (, "Northland", originally ''Norrlanden'' or "the Northlands") is the northernmost, largest and least populated of the three traditional lands of Sweden, consisting of nine provinces. Although Norrland does not serve any administr ...
, used by Boden Artillery Regiment
Boden Artillery Regiment ( sv, Bodens artilleriregemente, A 8) is an artillery unit within the Swedish Army that operated in various forms from 1919 to 2004 and again from 2022. It is based in Boden Garrison in Boden.
History
The unit was raised ...
and later Norrbotten Regiment
The Norrbotten Regiment ( sv, Norrbottens regemente), designation I 19, is a Swedish Army arctic armoured, light infantry and commando regiment that traces its origins back to the 19th century. The regiment's soldiers were originally recruited fr ...
. They were organized in two battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
s of 12 vehicles each until the late 1980s and after that, three battalions of 8 vehicles each until the bandkanon 1 was discontinued in 2003.
History
Development of what would become the bkan 1 started at the end of the 1940s but it was not until the 1950s when development really took off. When the KRV tank project was cancelled it was decided that one of the prototype chassises (developed by AB Landsverk
Landsverk (AB Landsverk) was a Swedish heavy industry company, manufacturing military equipment such as tanks, tank destroyers, SPAAGs, armored cars, tracked and wheeled off-road vehicles among others and civilian equipment such as railroad cars ...
) was to be repurposed as the prototype of the new self-propelled gun under the designation Artillerikanonvagn 151 (Akv 151), translating to "Artillery cannon wagon 151", the number 151 meaning 1st vehicle with a gun in the 15 cm caliber category. The chassis was reversed so the rear became the new front and an oscillating gun turret constructed by AB Bofors
BAE Systems AB is a Swedish defence company and a subsidiary of BAE Systems Land & Armaments, whose ultimate parent is the British defence contractor BAE Systems. The company is a holding company for Land Systems Hägglunds AB and BAE Systems Bofo ...
was fitted at the back (prior front). As the concept seemed promising, the self-propelled gun was re-designed by Landsverk under supervision of the Royal Swedish Army Materiel Administration
The Royal Swedish Army Material Administration ( sv, Kungliga Arméförvaltningen, KAF) was a Swedish central government agency that replaced the War Collegium (''Krigskollegium'') in 1865. It was active between the years 1866 and 1954.
History ...
to use the same drive train as the S-tank
The Stridsvagn 103 (Strv 103), also known as the Alternative S and S-tank, is a Swedish post-World War II main battle tank, designed and manufactured in Sweden. "Strv" is the Swedish military abbreviation of ''stridsvagn'', Swedish for chariot an ...
to speed up production. Bandkanon 1 appeared in two versions, the original version was Bandkanon 1 (later designated Bandkanon 1A). After modification done to the vehicle during the 1980s, the new version was designated Bandkanon 1C. The main difference was the introduction of a drive train
A drivetrain (also frequently spelled as drive train or sometimes drive-train) is the group of components that deliver mechanical power from the prime mover to the driven components. In automotive engineering, the drivetrain is the components o ...
more similar to the one introduced on the new "C" version of Stridsvagn 103, other modifications were the removal of the built-in ammunition crane in order to save weight, and the introduction of the POS 2 system for navigation, positioning and directing.
Atomic cannon
Persistent rumours claiming that the Bandkanon 1 was intended to fire nuclear shells can be readily dismissed. USA had already in 1959-1960 made clear export of the W48 shell, the only 155 mm with a nuclear warhead produced, was out of the question. The Swedish nuclear weapons program
After World War II, Sweden considered building nuclear weapons to defend themselves against an offensive assault from the Soviet Union. From 1945 to 1972 the government ran a clandestine nuclear weapons program under the guise of civilian defe ...
quickly concluded that the amount of plutonium available was the limiting factor, and smaller low yield ordnance used as much as the larger aircraft bombs that was the priority for the program. The high level army exercises done in the 1960s did not include any plans for own use of tactical nuclear weapons. Finally, the exceptionally high rate of fire of the Bkan 1 would, if not directly detrimental, serve little to no purpose when equipped with atomic weapons. This trait on the other hand goes well with the claim that Bkan 1 was to seal off the routes of attack in the north of Sweden near the Finnish border using chemical weapons.[Andersson, Lennart (2010). ÖB:s klubba: flygvapnets attackeskader under kalla kriget. Publikation / Försvaret och det kalla kriget (FOKK), 1652-5388 ; 24. Stockholm: Svenskt militärhistoriskt bibliotek. sid. 73. Libris 11958220. ISBN 978-91-85789-74-0]
References
Footnotes
Sources
* Persson, Mats (2000)
Pansarfordon
Retrieved 12 August 2006.
* Wennberg, Robert (1998)
Retrieved 12 August 2006.
* N/A, (1998)
Retrieved 12 August 2006.
{{ColdWarSwedishAFVs
Armoured fighting vehicles of the Cold War
Self-propelled artillery of Sweden
155 mm artillery
Autoloaders
Tracked self-propelled howitzers
Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s