The Kanonenjagdpanzer (''KanJPz''; also known as Jagdpanzer Kanone 90mm, "tank destroyer, gun 90mm") was a West German Cold War tank destroyer. Its design was very similar to that of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Jagdpanzer IV The ''Jagdpanzer'' IV, Sd.Kfz. 162, was a German tank destroyer based on the Panzer IV chassis and built in three main variants. As one of the casemate-style turretless Jagdpanzer (tank destroyer, literally "hunting tank") designs, it was develop ...

History

The first prototypes of the Kanonenjagdpanzer were built in 1960 by

Hanomag Hanomag (Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG, ) was a German producer of steam locomotives, tractors, trucks and military vehicles in Hanover. Hanomag first achieved international fame by delivering numerous steam locomotives to Finland, Romania and ...

and

Henschel Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting v ...

for

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and by

MOWAG MOWAG is a Swiss company which develops, designs and produces armoured vehicles for military applications in both land-only and amphibious configurations. These vehicles have gross vehicle weights ranging from 9 tonnes to 30 tonnes. The compa ...

for Switzerland. A second round of 6 prototypes this time built just by Hanomag and Henschel were constructed between 1962 and 1963. After that another set of six prototypes were built over the next two years still by Hanomag and Henschel. The features of the various prototypes were then combined into the final design. Between 1966 and 1967, 770 units were built for the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

, 385 by

and 385 by

. Eighty of them were delivered to Belgium from April 1975 onward. When the Soviets began deploying their

T-64 The T-64 is a Soviet tank manufactured in Kharkiv, and designed by Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau. The tank was introduced in the early 1960s. It was a more advanced counterpart to the T-62: the T-64 served in tank divisions, whil ...

and

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks h ...

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...

s, the 90 mm gun was not capable of engaging them in long-range combat and the Kanonenjagdpanzer became obsolete. Although the producers claimed it could be rearmed with a 105 mm gun, between 1983 and 1985, 163 of these tank destroyers were converted into

Raketenjagdpanzer Raketenjagdpanzer (missile armed tank hunter) is the designation of a range of German dedicated tank destroyers equipped with anti-tank guided missiles. Four different Raketenjagdpanzer have been used so far: * Raketenjagdpanzer 1 * Raketenjagdpanz ...

Jaguar 2 The Raketenjagdpanzer 4 Jaguar 2 was a West German tank destroyer equipped with anti-tank guided missiles. It was only operated by the Bundeswehr. History From 1983 to 1985, 162 Kanonenjagdpanzers were converted to ''Raketenjagdpanzer 4'' Jaguar ...

anti-tank guided missile carriers by removing the gun, adding a roof-mounted

TOW Towing is coupling two or more objects together so that they may be pulled by a designated power source or sources. The towing source may be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human, and the load being anything that can be pulled. Th ...

missile launcher and fastening further spaced and perforated armour on the hull. Some others were refitted into artillery observation vehicles by removing the main gun, so called ''Beobachtungspanzer'', which served most particularly in the mortar units. Some Kanonenjagdpanzer remained in service with the ''Heimatschutztruppe'' until 1991.

Design

The Kanonenjagdpanzer was a highly mobile vehicle, its survivability based on its mobility and its low profile. Its hull consisted of welded steel with a maximum thickness of 50 mm. It carried a crew of four: commander, driver, gunner and loader. Since the Kanonenjagdpanzer followed the casemate design of most

tank destroyers, the gun was fixed within the casemate, located a little right from the center. The 90 mm gun could only traverse 15° to the sides and elevate from −8° to +15°. It carried 51 90 mm rounds for the main gun and 4,000 7.62 mm rounds for the two MG3s. The Kanonenjagdpanzer had

NBC protection Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence (CBRN defence) are protective measures taken in situations in which chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear warfare (including terrorism) hazards may be present. CBRN defence consis ...

and night-fighting ability.

Variants

* Spähpanzer Ru 251 - variant which intended to replace the

M41 Walker Bulldog The M41 Walker Bulldog, officially 76-mm Gun Tank, M41, was an American light tank developed for armed reconnaissance purposes. It was produced by Cadillac between 1951 and 1954 and marketed successfully to the United States Army as a replaceme ...

. *

Raketenjagdpanzer 2 The Raketenjagdpanzer 2 or Raketenjagdpanzer SS-11 was a West German tank destroyer employed from 1967 to 1982 and equipped with Nord SS.11 guided anti tank missiles. It was developed at the same time as the Kanonenjagdpanzer and the Marder, and ...

Operators

* – The German Army operated a total of 770 ''Kanonenjagdpanzer'' * – The

Belgian Army The Land Component ( nl, Landcomponent, french: Composante terre) is the land branch of the Belgian Armed Forces. The King of the Belgians is the commander in chief. The current chief of staff of the Land Component is Major-General Pierre Gérard. ...

operated 80 slightly modified ''Kanonenjagdpanzer'' from 1975 onwards

References

External links

Panzerbär
(de) {{Fire support vehicles Tank destroyers of Germany Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s