The Panzer 61 was a
Swiss Cold War era medium tank later reclassified as a
second-generation 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 ...
. 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 armament of the Panzer 61 was a 105 mm main gun.
]
History and Development
During the early 1950s the Swiss Army tried to buy modern tanks to reinforce the armoured forces which, due to the war in Korea, proved to be impossible. As a stop-gap solution, the Swiss army purchased 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 re ...
light tanks from France and decided to develop a domestic medium tank.
The first prototype and production vehicles were designated Panzer 58. The first Panzer 58 prototype was armed with a domestic 90mm rifled gun, the second Panzer 58 was fitted with a British 84 mm calibre Ordnance QF 20 pounder
The Ordnance QF 20 pounder (known as 20 pounder, 20 pdr or simply 20-pr) was a British 84 mm (3.307 inch) tank gun. It was introduced in 1948 and used in the Centurion main battle tank, Charioteer medium tank, and Caernarvon Mark II ...
. and the third prototype as well as the production model was fitted with a Royal Ordnance L7 105mm rifled gun. The Panzer 58 served similarly to a preproduction model of the improved Panzer 61, and in 1961 the Swiss parliament approved production of 150 Panzer 61s. The vehicles were delivered between 1965 and 1967, produced at the Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette (today RUAG Land Systems) facility at Thun.
Service Life
The vehicle would serve for nearly thirty years with the Swiss Armed Forces
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 ...
. A replacement effort would be the pursued in 1967, with the purchase of 150 Panzer 68s although the effort was not wholly successful due to several glaring issues with the new vehicle. From 1967 onwards, Panzer 61 vehicles were upgraded and retrofitted with technology found on the more advanced Panzer 68 (its successor). The Panzer 61's original coaxial 20 mm autocannon was found to have no use in practice and was replaced by a coaxial 7.5 mm machine gun in the Panzer 61 AA9 variant. Panzer 61 would never serve in combat but examples remained in service well up until the production and commission of Panzer 87 and, although relegated to secondary duties, would serve up until the final units were reequipped with Panzer 87 in 1994.
File:Panzer 61.jpg, Panzer 61 at 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: Thou ...
, Switzerland
File:Pz-61-latrun-4.jpg, Swiss Panzer 61 MBT in Yad La-Shiryon
Yad La-Shiryon (officially: The Armored Corps Memorial Site and Museum at Latrun; he, יד לשריון) is Israel's official memorial site for fallen soldiers from the armored corps, as well as one of the most diverse tank museums in the world. ...
Museum, Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
File:Panzer 61 in the Yad la-Shiryon 2.jpg,
Legacy
The chassis formed the basis of the Panzerkanone 68
The Panzerkanone 68 ("Armoured gun 68") is a Swiss self-propelled howitzer produced by the Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette (Federal Manufacturing Works) to meet a Swiss Army requirement. Only four were manufactured; they served for three ...
self-propelled gun, the prototype of the Entpannungspanzer 65 armoured recovery vehicle
An armoured recovery vehicle (ARV) is typically a powerful tank or armoured personnel carrier (APC) chassis modified for use during combat for military vehicle recovery (towing) or repair of battle-damaged, stuck, and/or inoperable armoured f ...
,[ ] Wheels and tracks from the Panzer 61 were also used on the Zielfahrzeug 68
The Zielfahrzeug 68 ("Target tank 68") was a decommissioned Panzer 68, which was converted to the target vehicle role. A total of ten of these vehicles were in use.
Conversion
The Swiss Army ordered from the company Eidgenoessische Konstru ...
.
A number of Panzer 61s have survived in museums and private collections including The Tank Museum
The Tank Museum (previously The Bovington Tank Museum) is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about north of the village of Wool and west of the major port of Poole. The collection ...
.
References
External links
*
* https://web.archive.org/web/20130719085845/http://www.armeemuseum.ch/uploads/media/Dok_Panzer_68.pdf.pdf (document not available in English)
Action shots from privately owned Panzer 68 and 61
{{Cold War tanks, style=wide
Tanks of Switzerland
Main battle tanks of Switzerland
Main battle tanks of the Cold War
Medium tanks of the Cold War
Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s