The Panzerkanone 68 ("Armoured gun 68") is a Swiss self-propelled howitzer produced by the

Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette ''Eidgenössische Konstruktionswerkstätte'' English: "Federal Constructions Works", short K+W, was a Swiss state-owned enterprise, with the aim of making the Swiss military independent of foreign sources for its equipment needs. It was establishe ...

(Federal Manufacturing Works) to meet a

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 ...

requirement. Only four were manufactured; they served for three years with the Swiss military before being retired.

History and development

The manufacture of a self-propelled howitzer was being considered in Switzerland in the mid-1950s. Studies were developed by the Group on Arms Services (GRD) and

. Real development began in 1966 with the mounting of a 15 cm howitzer on a

Panzer 61 The Panzer 61 was a Swiss Cold War era medium tank later reclassified as a second-generation main battle tank. The tank had a weight of 36.5 tons and was powered by a 630 hp diesel engine, which gave it a top road speed of . The primary ar ...

chassis. Subsequently, four vehicles were built on

Panzer 68 The Panzer 68 was a Swiss main battle tank developed by the Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette in Thun in the late 1960s, and was the main tank of the Swiss Army until the late 1990s. History The Panzer 68 was based on the Panzer 61, ...

chassis. These possessed a range of not more than {{convert, 30, km, mi, abbr=on and had a rate of fire of 6 rounds per minute with automatic loading. Due to technical and financial problems, the project was never pursued. The Swiss Army procured the American

M109 howitzer The M109 is an American 155 mm turreted self-propelled howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s to replace the M44. It has been upgraded a number of times, most recently to the M109A7. The M109 family is the most common Western indirect-fi ...

instead. The four vehicles were used experimentally from 1972 to 1975. Two vehicles are preserved; one at the Panzermuseum Thun, the other one at the Schweizerische Militärmuseum Full.

References

* Heller, Urs: ''Die Panzer der Schweizer Armee von 1920 bis 2008'' * Schweizerische Militärmuseum Full

External links

Panzerkanone 68
on militaerfahrzeuge.ch (German) Abandoned military projects of Switzerland