Bandvagn 202 (Bv 202) is a tracked articulated, all-terrain vehicle developed by

Bolinder-Munktell AB Bolinder-Munktell (BM) was a tractor and machines manufacturer founded in Eskilstuna, Sweden in 1932 through the merger of the mechanical companies Bolinder and Munktell. Bolinder are also well known as manufacturers of 'Semi-Diesel' or ...

, a subsidiary of

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

, for 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 ...

Description

The vehicle is formed by two rubber Kegresse track units with a multi-directional pivot in between. The front unit contains the engine and gearbox through which power is delivered to the front and, via a

propshaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power (physics), power and torque and rotation, usually ...

in the pivot mechanism, the rear tracks. A hydraulic ram on the pivot "bends" the vehicle in the middle to steer it—there is no braking of track units for steering as on conventional tracklaying vehicles. The controls are a conventional steering wheel on the left hand front of the vehicle. It can reach a speed of 35 km/h on land and 7 km/h (4 kn) on water. The Bv 202 carries a driver and a commander in the front unit and 8–10 troops in the trailer unit. It can be adapted for other applications. Production started in

Arvika Arvika is a locality and the seat of Arvika Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden with 14,244 inhabitants in 2010. Geography The town of Arvika is situated at Kyrkviken, a bay of Glafsfjorden, Sweden's only inland fjord, a remnant of the time ...

in 1964 and ended in 1981. The Bv 202 has since been succeeded by the

Hägglunds 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 ...

Bandvagn 206 Bandvagn 206 (Bv 206) (meaning ''"Tracked Vehicle 206"'' in English) is a tracked articulated, all-terrain carrier developed by Hägglunds (now part of BAE Systems Platforms & Services) for the Swedish Army. It consists of two units, with all f ...

. The Bv 202 was designed to transport troops and equipment through snow or boglands in the northern parts of Sweden. The last Swedish unit to use this vehicle was the

Cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

, who found that the manual gearbox Bv 202 was much quieter than the automatic transmission Bv 206. In the Norwegian army units that had both Bv 202 and Bv 206 ran the Bv 202 as the first vehicle if the snow conditions were challenging. The Bv 202 performed better in deep and/or difficult snow conditions. The Mk1 Bv 202 is powered by an Volvo B18, the MK2 by the B20. It has less

ground pressure Ground pressure is the pressure exerted on the ground by the tires or tracks of a motorized vehicle, and is one measure of its potential mobility, especially over soft ground. It also applies to the feet of a walking person or machine. Ground pre ...

than a skier and is fully

amphibious Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

. The Bv 202 was used by NATO forces, and replaced the older Swedish

Snow Trac The Snow Trac is a small personal Snowcat that is roughly the size of a modern compact car. Origins and description In 1954, Lars Larsson, the chief design engineer for a Swedish farm equipment company, AB Westeråsmaskiner, decided to develop a t ...

ST4 Over-snow Vehicle, which was employed by the British Royal Marines under NATO.

Operators

*
1
* - replaced by Bv 206 and

Sisu Nasu The Nasu (acronym for Nauha-Sisu, en, Track Sisu; also meaning " Piglet" in colloquial Finnish) is a tracked articulated, all-terrain transport vehicle developed by Sisu Auto for the Finnish Army. It consists of two units, with all four tracks p ...

* * - replaced the

M29 Weasel The M29 Weasel is a World War II tracked vehicle designed for operation in snow. Built by Studebaker, Weasels were also used in sandy, muddy, and desert terrains, including towing loads over terrain wheeled vehicles could not negotiate as in the ...

and subsequently replaced by Bv 206 * - replaced by Bv 206 * - replaced "ST4 Snow Trac Over-snow Vehicle" and subsequently replaced by Bv 206 * - replaced from Sweden an unnamed amount of vehicles

Civilian operators

* At least 27 ex-Norwegian vehicles sold to Russian company for tourist use in the Murmansk area

References

{{Reflist

External links

Pictures
Military vehicles of Sweden Tracked vehicles Snowmobiles Two-section tracked all-terrain vehicles Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s

Description

Operators

Civilian operators

See also

References

External links