Stridsvagn 74 (strv 74) 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 ...

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 use with 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 ...

from 1958 to 1984. It was a modification of the older

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 ...

, which was phased out of service in the early 1950s. Instead of scrapping the vehicles altogether, the chassis were used to build a new tank which could be used as a supplement to the newly bought Stridsvagn 81. The turret of the strv 74 was completely new, with a 75 mm high-velocity gun based on an old anti-aircraft gun, engines and transmission were modified or changed from the strv m/42, wider tracks and a separate electrical motor for turret traverse was introduced while retaining manual traverse as a backup.

History

The Stridsvagn 74's development path stretches through the Stridsvagn m/40 and m/42 to the original 16,257 kg/16-ton Lago tank, manufactured by the

firm

Landsverk :''This is about the origin of the family name Landsverk. For the Swedish heavy industry manufacturer, see AB Landsverk.'' Landsverk is the name of two forest farms located in the village of Lisleherad, in the municipality of Notodden, Norway ...

for the

Hungarian Army The Hungarian Ground Forces ( hu, Magyar Szárazföldi Haderő) is the land branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces, and is responsible for ground activities and troops including artillery, tanks, APCs, IFVs and ground support. Hungary's ground f ...

.Forty, p. 217 The 74 was therefore in essence a modernized version of the World War II Strv m/42 tank which was itself an attempt to bring Swedish-produced tanks up to the standard of the rest of war-torn Europe. It was most successful in this role. Produced in 1958, weighing and powered by two

Scania-Vabis Scania AB is a major Swedish manufacturer headquartered in Södertälje, focusing on commercial vehicles—specifically heavy lorries, trucks and buses. It also manufactures diesel engines for heavy vehicles as well as marine and general indus ...

L/607 (170 hp/127 kW each) gasoline engines, the Stridsvagn 74 had a top speed of 45 kilometers per hour (28 miles per hour), and a range of 200 km/124.3 miles. With a crew of four, it mounted a 75mm/2.95in main gun and had two machine-guns in its updated turret, which was later further modified with a more sophisticated fire-control type system and an upgrading of the main armament to increase its velocity.

Use

Stridsvagn 74 was used in the Swedish Army armoured brigades as a replacement for the cancelled purchase of

AMX-13 The AMX-13 is a French light tank produced from 1952 to 1987. It served with the French Army, as the Char 13t-75 Modèle 51, and was exported to more than 26 other nations. Named after its initial weight of 13 tonnes, and featuring a tough and r ...

until it was replaced by

Strv 103 The Stridsvagn 103 (Strv 103), also known as the Alternative S and S-tank, is a Swedish post-World War II main battle tank, designed and manufactured in Sweden. "Strv" is the Swedish military abbreviation of ''stridsvagn'', Swedish for chariot a ...

. It was then used in independent corps tank companies, and even later relegated to the infantry support role in assault gun companies before being phased out of service in 1981 (strv 74 V) and 1984 (strv 74 H). The turrets were retained and later used as static gun pillboxes, which were phased out and demolished in the early 2000s. Its high silhouette and narrow hull along with the recoil of the gun made it rock when firing the gun at 3 and 9 o´clock and it was sometimes referred as "''Sanslös''" (Swedish for "Senseless") by its crew.

Versions

Strv 74 was available in two almost identical versions, strv 74 H and strv 74 V, the main difference being the transmissions which lead to slightly different layout of the interiors. The H version was based on the strv m/42 TH, and the V version was based on the strv m/42 TV.

Gallery

Image:Strv_74_at_AAF_Museum.jpg, Strv 74 at the American Armored Foundation Museum in Danville, Virginia. Image:Strv_74_Rear.jpg, Rear view of Strv 74 at the AAF Museum.

Notes

References

;Print * Porat, Didrik von (1989). ''Svenska arméns pansar: den svenska stridsvagnsmaterielens historia.'' Stockholm: Armémuseum. ISSN 0280-7254 * ;Online * Persson, Mats (2000). * pansarmuseet.se * http://www.ointres.se/strv_74.htm

External links

{{ColdWarSwedishAFVs Tanks of Sweden Military vehicles introduced in the 1950s