The SK-105 ''Kürassier'' is an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

light tank A light tank is a Tank classification, tank variant initially designed for rapid movements in and out of combat, to outmaneuver heavier tanks. It is smaller with thinner vehicle armour, armor and a less powerful tank gun, main gun, tailored for ...

armed with a rifled 105 mm gun in an

oscillating turret An oscillating turret is a form of gun turret#Armoured fighting vehicles, turret for armoured fighting vehicles, both tanks and Armored car (military), armoured cars. The turret is unusual in being made of two hinged parts. elevation (ballistics) ...

. It is estimated that over 700 have been produced, with initial deliveries in 1971. It shares its CN 105-57 main gun with the French

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 ...

, which was widely produced and deployed.

History

Design and development

The SK-105 was developed by Saurer-Werk (now

Steyr-Daimler-Puch Steyr-Daimler-Puch () was a large manufacturing conglomerate based in Steyr, Austria, which was broken up in stages between 1987 and 2001. The component parts and operations continued to exist under separate ownership and new names. History Th ...

) to meet the Austrian Army's operational requirements for a mobile anti-tank vehicle. The first prototype was ready in 1967 and delivery of pre-production vehicles commenced in 1971. The SK-105 is based on a heavily modified Saurer APC. The hull of the SK-105 is welded steel and is divided into three compartments: driver's at the front, fighting in the centre and the engine at the rear. Due to its low weight, the SK-105 can be transported by

C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...

transport aircraft Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes: * Airliners, aircraft, usually large and most often operated by airlines, intended for carrying multiple passengers or cargo in commercial service * Cargo aircraft or freighters, fix ...

. The turret of the SK-105 is developed from the French design used on the

. Its gun can penetrate 360 mm of armour. Front armour protects the crew from 20mm armour-piercing rounds over its frontal arc, while all-round protection is against small arms bullets only. Add-on armour on the front part of the chassis and turret is available as an option, which provides protection against 35 mm APDS rounds at a flank arc. Some export vehicles were fitted with add-on armour. The driver sits at the front of the vehicle on the left. On the right side of the front section of the hull, there is spare ammo for the main gun. There are three periscopes forward of his hatch cover and in wet weather, a small windscreen with a wiper can be fitted. The driver's centre day driving periscope can be replaced by a passive night vision periscope if required. Ammunition and the vehicle's batteries are stowed to the right of the driver. The engine and transmission are at the rear part of the vehicle and the engine compartment is fitted with a fire extinguisher which can be operated by hand or automatically. Combustion air is drawn in via a cyclone filter system. The

is similar to that fitted to the AMX-13 light tank. The commander is seated on the left of the turret and the gunner on the right. The commander is provided with seven periscopes, a periscopic sight. The commander's infrared night sight has a magnification of x6. The gunner has two observation periscopes, a telescopic sight and a one-piece lifting and swivelling hatch cover. Due to the design of the oscillating turret, all sights are always linked to the main and secondary armament. For engaging targets at night, an infrared periscopic sight is provided for the commander. A

CILAS CILAS is a French company, a subsidiary of Ariane Group, specialized in laser and optics technology, founded in 1966. This high-technology engineering company was the inventor of the particle size analyzer. Today, it develops, manufactures and ...

TCV 29 laser range-finder (range of 400 to 9,995 m) is mounted on the roof of the turret. The XSW-30-U 950 W infrared/white light searchlight is fitted on the left front plate of the oscillating part of the turret. A fixed fan in the turret draws out fumes when the main or secondary armament is fired. All versions of the SK-105 have a 105 mm gun designated 105 G1. This gun is completed with a semi-automatic revolving magazine-type

autoloader An autoloader or auto-loader is a mechanical aid or replacement for the personnel that load ammunition into crew-served weapons without being an integrated part of the gun itself. The term is generally only applied to larger weapons, such as na ...

that allowed the reduction of the crew to three members. The vehicle has two revolving magazines holding 6 rounds each. A total of 42 rounds for the main gun are carried. Once the gun is fired the empty cartridge cases are ejected out of the rear of the turret through a trapdoor hinged on the left. This vehicle is specifically designed for mountainous terrain and has an improved climbing capability compared to heavier main battle tanks. In 2014, all production and support rights on SK-105 were acquired from General Dynamics Europe Land System (GDELS) by the Belgian company DUMA Engineering Group. The company is supporting current users of SK-105 and derivatives and offering retrofit programs. In January 2023, Freddy Versluys, CEO of

OIP Sensor Systems OIP Sensor Systems is an Israeli-owned Belgian defence and space company. History The company was founded in Ghent in as (Precision Optics and Instruments), as an effort of Belgium to develop its own optical industry for its Belgian Armed For ...

, claims to have 112 SK-105s stored in hangars in

Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...

, Belgium, "in good condition" and "easily repaired" for potential deployment to Ukraine, but presently unavailable because politicians based in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria, have not so far approved these tanks for re-export.

Operational history

Variants

* SK-105 - Base production * SK-105 A1 - Improved automatic loading system * SK-105 A2 - Improved version of the A1. It featured a new fire control system and a fully automatic electrical loading system. * SK-105 A2S - Same as the SK-105 A2 but with an Elbit's Electric gun and turret drive stabilization (EGTDS) for wich the "S" stand for Stabilized. * SK-105 A3 - Limited production of improved version of the SK-105. It featured applique armour on the turret, new

fire control system A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a Director (military), director and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs th ...

thermal camera Infrared thermography (IRT), thermal video or thermal imaging, is a process where a thermal camera captures and creates an image of an object by using infrared radiation emitted from the object in a process, which are examples of infrared im ...

and a new 105 mm M68 tank gun. * Greif armoured recovery vehicle * Pionier engineering vehicle * SK-105 driver training vehicle * ''Super Kürassier'' - 2 prototype variants constructed during the 1980s with a bigger turret. They featured an electronic turret drive and the

from the

Leopard 2 The Leopard 2 is a third generation German main battle tank (MBT). Developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s, the tank entered service in 1979 and replaced the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West German army. Various iterat ...

. The project was terminated in 1988.

Patagón drivative

In 2005, the Argentine Army ordered 9 SK-105 hulls from Austria, which it announced would be retrofitted with the turrets of its surplus

tanks. In Argentine service, this variant was designated '' Patagón''. Argentina planned to assemble 39 Patagóns between 2005 and 2009, at an estimated cost of $23.4 million USD. No more hulls were purchased, and only 4 of those Argentina previously acquired for this purpose received the conversion, plus the prototype. The program was shelved due to lack of funds.

Operators

*: 118, excluding the ''Patagón'' variant. *: 54 *: 52 *: 17 SK-105 A2S *: 109 *: 54 *: 32

Former operators

*: 286 (19 Pionier engineering vehicles still in use) *: 100

References

External links

Technical data sheet and pictures SK-105 from ArmyRecognition.com

Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug GmbH
manufacturer of the SK-105 Kurassier {{DEFAULTSORT:SK-105 Kurassier Light tanks of Austria Light tanks of the Cold War Tanks with autoloaders Military vehicles introduced in the 1970s