The Infanterikanonvagn 72 (Ikv 72) is a light

assault gun Assault gun (from german: Sturmgeschütz - "storm gun", as in "storming/assaulting") is a type of self-propelled artillery which uses an infantry support gun mounted on a motorized chassis, normally an armored fighting vehicle, which are designed ...

vehicle developed by Swedish firm

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 ...

in the early 1950s.

History

In early 1949, 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 ...

initiated a project for an assault gun was to provide

direct fire Direct fire or line-of-sight fire refers to firing of a ranged weapon whose projectile is launched directly at a target within the line-of-sight of the user. The firing weapon must have a sighting device and an unobstructed view to the target, w ...

support for

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

attacks. The vehicle was intended to replace towed

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

in the infantry support role. Requirements for the new vehicle included low cost so that many vehicles can be constructed and small, lightweight design with a limit of 6 tons. In 1952, Landsverk took part in this project. From 1953 to 1954, 36 Ikv 72s were delivered to the Swedish Army.

Description

The Ikv 72 has a

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...

design with an open top

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

at the front of the vehicle, and an engine and gearbox at the rear. An unusual feature of the Ikv 72 is that the drive wheels were placed at the rear. The weight of the vehicle was 8 tons. The Ikv 72 had a crew of four. The gun was mounted at the front of the vehicle and gun traverse was limited to 5 degrees. Although gun caliber for the Ikv 72 was supposed to be at least 105 mm, no 105 mm gun was available then. Thus, the vehicle was armed with the 75 mm m/41 gun L/34 of the

Stridsvagn m/42 Stridsvagn m/42 (Strv m/42) was a Swedish medium tank in service in the World War II period. Known by its manufacturer AB Landsverk as Lago II-III-IV, it fielded a 75 mm L/31 gun, the first of its size in a Swedish tank. It entered service ...

as a temporary measure. The Ikv 72 fires

high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

(HE) shells.

Variants

Infanterikanonvagn 102

From 1956 to 1958, Ikv 72 was modified to Infanterikanonvagn 102 (Ikv 102). Armour hatches were attached to the top of superstructure so as to protect the crew from

shrapnel Shrapnel may refer to: Military * Shrapnel shell, explosive artillery munitions, generally for anti-personnel use * Shrapnel (fragment), a hard loose material Popular culture * ''Shrapnel'' (Radical Comics) * ''Shrapnel'', a game by Adam C ...

and sniper fire.The 75 mm gun was replaced by 105 mm gun with a

muzzle brake A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter recoil and unwanted ...

developed by Bofors. The weight of the vehicle was increased to 8.80 tons. In the 1960s, the Ikv 102 was given

high-explosive anti-tank High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) is the effect of a shaped charge explosive that uses the Munroe effect to penetrate heavy armor. The warhead functions by having an explosive charge collapse a metal liner inside the warhead into a high-velocity ...

(HEAT) shells for defense against other armoured fighting vehicles in addition to HE shells.

Infanterikanonvagn 103

Infanterikanonvagn 103 (Ikv 103) was a minor improvement of the Ikv 102. The Ikv 103 still retained the 105 mm gun. It received an engine upgrade and was equipped with the B42 horizontally-opposed four-cylinder engine developed by

Volvo Aero Volvo Aero was a Swedish aircraft, guided missiles and rocket engine manufacturer. It became ''GKN Aerospace Engine Systems'' following the company's acquisition by British engineering conglomerate GKN during 2012. It was originally establish ...

. Air intake was not via the crew compartment anymore, but via grills on the rear of the vehicle. The weight of the vehicle still remained at 8.80 tons. There were attempts to export the Ikv 103 design to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and other countries. In the early 1980s, Ikv 103 was converted to Pansarvärnsrobotbandvagn 551 and Luftvärnsrobotvagn 701.

References

{{ColdWarSwedishAFVs Fire support vehicles Armoured fighting vehicles of Sweden Armoured fighting vehicles of the Cold War Tanks of the Cold War Tanks of Sweden Military vehicles introduced in the 1950s