Jagdpanzer from the 70′s – MOWAG Taifun

Hello everyone,

few months back, I made a post on the EU forums (when I still wasn’t banned) about the ultimate Swiss tank destroyer. I think it’s kinda worth reposting for those, who don’t know this stunningly attractive vehicle.

MOWAG Taifun

History:

The Swiss company called MOWAG is not a newbie on the field of weaponry. In the 60′s, it competed for the German Marder IVF program with its own prototype and later it built several prototypes for the German Kanonenjagdpanzer program. From there on, the company used its considerable experience in creating a line of light tank destroyer designs – the Gepard and the Taifun. The Gepard (looked a lot like the German Kanonenjagdpanzer) was not successful in entering the service and neither was the other similiar project, the Tornado (designed as an IFV). The development of both was privately funded, because the company expected Switzerland to start replacing the old AMX-13 tanks (classified in Switzerland as TD’s) and the US M113 APC’s. In the end, only a pre-prototype (functional model) was completed and the vehicle never entered service. It can be regarded as one of the last real tank destroyers and most likely (along with the S-Tank) one of the last turretless “oldschool” Jagdpanzers.

The Taifun was basically a development of the Gepard (Tornado) chassis. It was a very light vehicle – its armor (50mm?) protected the 4-man crew basically only from HE shell fragments and from light autocannon fire (it could withstand only 25mm shells however). The armament consisted of the classic 105mm L7 clone (however, an upgrade to the Rheinmetall 120mm L/55 was considered – not an option for WoT though). The considered turbocharged dieselengine was a 575hp Detroit Diesel 8V-71T – the same to be fitted to the ill-fated Tornado IFV. Combined with the light chassis (estimated 25-30 tons), this vehicle could move fast. Real fast.

In World of Tanks?

As you can see, this vehicle looks badass. It’s like the ultimate Jagdpanzer IV on steroids. And crack. And heroin. While the project itself was developed in late 70′s (yes yes, I see you all rising your eyebrows now), its roots actually run into early 60′s. The chassis is old – it’s basically the same (although modified) chassis used for the 60′s Tornado – and that’s not so bad. The armor is obviously very thin (think 30-50mm), but – as mentioned above – the vehicle is very light and has a very powerful engine, therefore it will be fast. Really fast. Cca 70 km/h on the road is expected and that’s just the “basic” powerpack. With upgrades, it could be the tier 10 Hellcat-meets-Jagdpanzer. The main gun is adequate – the ubiquitous L7 is already in the game and despite the fact it would be fitted with advanced sights and other 80′s thingies in real life, one can easily imagine this vehicle having Leopard 1-grade optics. Naturally, in order not to get oneshotted by pretty much anything, the suspension would have to be really nimble, which is actually something totally new – we don’t have that in the tier 10 TD vehicles.

Stats:

Crew: 4
Armor: 30-50mm (estimated)
Weapon: 105mm (L7 clone?)
Ammo: estimated 50 rounds
Speed: cca 70km/h
Weight: estimated 25-30 tons
Powerplant: Detroit Diesel 8V-71T, 575hp

Well, this is what I wrote roughly 6 months ago. Of course, this vehicle has extremely little chance to ever appear in World of Tanks, it’s too modern (at this moment, the unofficial time limit is set for 1969).

I also attempted to collect together a Swiss tank destroyer branch. Not easy and it requires some… unconventional measures. Here’s what I’ve been able to put together:

T4: Nahkampfkanone NK1 1941 (this is a Marder-like vehicle, with possible 105mm upgrade)
T5: Jagdpanzer G13 (basically a Hetzer manufactured for Switzerland by Czechoslovakia, with some minor upgrades)
T6: Nahkampfkanone 2 (ugly as hell, basically a closed Marder)
T7: Leichter Panzer 51 (AMX-13) (Swiss AMX-13 light tanks were classified as tank destroyers – yes, lame, I know)
T8: Kanonenjagdpanzer MOWAG – prototype (90mm) (the unsuccessful KJpz prototype by Gruppe 2, which included Mowag)
T9: Jagdpanzer Gepard (built on the MOWAG Tornado chassis in 1960)
T10: Jagdpanzer Taifun

Ah well. EU tree still has a long way to go, I really wonder, how WG will glue everything together. Lookign forward to it :)

22 thoughts on “Jagdpanzer from the 70′s – MOWAG Taifun

  1. A long time ago, when I was searching vehicles for my fan-made european tree, I found out that the NK 1 had two versions: Ausf. 1 and Ausf. 2. The later had its gun replaced with a howitzer, making it a good candidate for a spot in the arty branch.

    • i should also say that sweden never considered the s tank as anything else than a MBT

      • While true, so is that just words and not really related to how the tank actually acts in use. Either way ‘MBT’ is not a class used in WoT, so they should just use the one more fitting.

      • Given that the term originates, according to le Wiki, in either Persian or Greek anyway quibbling about different translitterations strikes me as a tad silly. (For the record in my native Finnish it’s rendered as “taifuuni”…)

  2. Why is it lame that the amx13 was a td in swiss? all of the td-s are ment to ambush the enemy tanks. hellcat was a real ambusher but they only used it near bastogne, how it supposed to used.
    all modern td-s are now light weeled IFV’s with 120 or 105mm at guns.

    • The French seem to like giving their recon stuff that kind of dual-role capability. Started in the later interwar period already (re: Panhard 178 and its 25mm antitank gun).

  3. I think the Nahkampfkanone 2 looks pretty cool, wikipedia gives it 5! km/h offroad speed, and 26 km/h on roads, now that would be fun ingame. Serb should get it in the game, so when someone complains about it, he can just reply: Nah.

  4. Did this tank have any gun-traverse or was it hull-traversing when aiming just like the S-tank??

    Looks like the love-child between Hetzer and T28 in my eyes, and that is not bad.

    • The mantlet design and the nook in the central glacis to give it some room (compare T110E3) would certainly suggest the gun having some lateral traverse to my amateur eyes…

    • ‘Tis a most dreadful tale indeed; one involving a stuffed parrot, a moderator’s pet goldfish, at best semi-legal incendiaries and an Interpol APB…

        • Some of the NA forum’s best players and most regular contributors have been/are very close to being banned due to “moderating for fun” and a screw warning point system, while the NA mod staff runs the boards with an iron fist and seems more interested in preventing intelligent critcism of WG/mod staff decisions than preventing honest-to-god trolling.

          I take it that the WG EU mod staff is no more competent?