The MOWAG Pirat is an armored

Infantry tank The infantry tank was a concept developed by the United Kingdom and France in the years leading up to World War II. Infantry tanks were designed to support infantrymen in an attack. To achieve this, the vehicles were generally heavily vehicle armo ...

made by the Swiss company MOWAG.

History and development

Eleven prototypes in different versions were built from 1960 to 1975. Together with the

Saurer Tartaruga The Saurer Tartaruga (Turtle) was a prototype of an armored personnel carrier from the Adolph Saurer AG. The Saurer Tartaruga was built in 1959. Together with the Mowag Pirat it was tested by the Swiss Army. But unexpectedly the Swiss Army decided ...

the MOWAG Pirat was tested by the

Swiss Army The Swiss Armed Forces (german: Schweizer Armee, french: Armée suisse, it, Esercito svizzero, rm, Armada svizra; ) operates on land and in the air, serving as the primary armed forces of Switzerland. Under the country's militia system, re ...

. Instead, the Army decided to buy the American M113, previously seen as an unsuitable contender. The MOWAG Pirat was the prototype of the later

Mowag 3M1 Pirat The armored MOWAG 3M1 Pirat was a prototype for an armored personal carrier developed by the Swiss company Mowag. History and development Initiated by the development project of the future German Marder infantry fighting vehicle, which was eva ...

. One of these tanks is now in the Full Military museum and one in the tank museum in

Thun , neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg , twintown = , website = www.thun.ch Thun (french: Thoune) ...

. Militärmuseum Full Switzerland Marcus Bauer, Nutzfahrzeuge der MOWAG Motorwagenfabrik AG, Fachpresse Goldach, Hudson & Company, 1996

References

{{Reflist Armoured fighting vehicles of Switzerland Abandoned military projects of Switzerland