Pansarbandvagn 301 (pbv 301), meaning roughly ''armoured tracked carrier vehicle 301'',), are instead only called wagons (chassis description) to denote that they are tracked but more specialized and less universal. was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

infantry fighting vehicle An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct-fire support. The 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forc ...

() used by 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 ...

. It was designed to carry a squad of 8 fully armed

panzergrenadier ''Panzergrenadier'' (), abbreviated as ''PzG'' (WWII) or ''PzGren'' (modern), meaning '' "Armour"-ed fighting vehicle "Grenadier"'', is a German term for mechanized infantry units of armoured forces who specialize in fighting from and in conjunc ...

s () into battle and provide direct-fire support for them in combat. The panzergrenadiers could opt to either fight from inside the vehicle through hatches on the roof or dismount the vehicle and fight in its vicinity. The pbv 301 was armed with a

Bofors AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years. History Located in ...

20 mm

belt-fed upright=1.35, An M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges, aboard a U.S. Navy">7.62×51mm_NATO.html" ;"title="M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO">M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges, aboar ...

gun taken from scrapped Saab 21

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

. The pbv 301 was an interim solution, built on the chassis from the obsolete

stridsvagn m/41 Stridsvagn m/41 (Strv m/41) was a Swedish medium tank. A license-built version of the Czechoslovak TNH medium tank, it served into the 1950s. History Since 1937, the Swedish army had been interested in the Czechoslovakian TNH tank. In March 194 ...

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

(in service since 1942). It was introduced in 1961 and removed from service in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the replacement

pbv 302 Pansarbandvagn 302 (pbv 302), meaning roughly ''armoured tracked carrier vehicle 302'',), are instead only called wagons (chassis description) to denote that they are tracked but more specialized and less universal. was a Swedish high-mobility inf ...

came into use. The pbv 301 replaced the open-topped

Terrängbil m/42 KP Terrängbil m/42 KP (tgb m/42 KP), meaning "terrain car m/42 KP" (''KP'' standing for ''Karosseri Pansar'', "Coachwork Armour"), colloquially known as "KP-car" ( sv, KP-bil), was a Swedish infantry fighting vehicle developed during World War II. I ...

IFV as the main infantry fighting vehicle of the Swedish Army.

Images

File:Pansarbandvagn 301 Revinge 2019-2.jpg, Pbv 301 with mounted infantry File:PBV 301 mg 7765.jpg, Pbv 301 interior File:20 mm akan m45B Bofors i Pbv 301.png, Pbv 301 20 mm cannon cupola

Variants

*''Pansarbandvagn 301'' -

Infantry fighting vehicle An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct-fire support. The 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forc ...

version, 185 produced *''Stridsledningspansarbandvagn 3011'' (slpbv 3011) - Command version, 20 produced *''Eldledningspansarbandvagn 3012'' (epbv 3012) -

Artillery observer An artillery observer, artillery spotter or forward observer (FO) is responsible for directing artillery and mortar fire onto a target. It may be a ''forward air controller'' (FAC) for close air support (CAS) and spotter for naval gunfire su ...

version, 15 produced

Footnotes

Sources

* *

External links

Pansarbandvagn 301 at Axvall
{{ColdWarSwedishAFVs Armoured personnel carriers of Sweden Tracked armoured personnel carriers Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s