Swedish Tanks – Part XIX: Ikv 72 & Ikv 102

Author: sp15 (US server)

The list of previous parts is at the bottom of the article.

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In early 1949, the army was looking to acquire a new generation of AFV’s. One of the requested vehicles was a new assault gun to fill the need for mechanized direct fire support for the infantry. It was believed that this vehicle could replace towed infantry guns, but to achieve this, the new assault gun needed to be as cheap as possible, so that numerous vehicles could be built. Therefore, it was decided to go with a very lightweight design, no heavier than 6 tons and to use readily available parts wherever possible.

A month later, the Landsverk Company responded with their initial drawing and a scale model of the new vehicle designated Tankett m/49.

Pictures of scale model

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The initial version had a crew of three and a weight of 6 tons, it was however a rather preliminary design, since no gun or radio have been decided for the vehicle. As the development of the vehicle continued, the superstructure was redesigned and the crew increased to 4. Next, there was the question of its main armament. Three options have been considered. First, the same 75mm gun, that had been used on the Strv m/42. Second was a newly developed 84mm gun, which was considered in 4 variants with different muzzle velocities, or a modified version of the 105mm m/40 howitzer. Of these options, the 84mm was the preferred option, but due to the need to develop the gun from scratch, it was decided to arm the initial prototypes and production run with the 75mm gun. By the end of 1949, most of the issues with the design were worked out and preparations were made for the construction of a prototype.

The first prototype was armed with three 8mm machineguns and was finished in early 1950, this armament was however found rather lacking and the prototype was soon refitted with a 75mm gun. The rearmed prototype weighed 6,5 tons and was powered by a 105hp Volvo engine, that gave the tiny vehicle a power to weight ratio of 17hp/t and an impressive top speed of 60kph. As you can imagine, the low weight did not allow a lot of armor – in fact, the thickest armor on the vehicle was only 19mm on the upper front, with only 7mm at the sides and 5mm at the rear. Perhaps the most impressive feature of the Tankett fm/49 was the gun depression, that could reach a massive -25dg, which was actually more than the elevation, which only reached 20dg. However, the gun traverse was rather poor with only 10dg of traverse to each side.

Tankett fm/49 prototype

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Rearmed prototype with a 75mm gun

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Drawing of the 84mm gun

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Another thing I want to cover is that it had fairly early on been decided that the chassis should serve as a platform for a series of light vehicles, that were labeled as “special variants”. These special versions of the Tankett fm/49 varied a fair bit, with everything from mortar carriers to flamethrower versions being considered and in some cases built and prototyped. Nothing ever came of these special variants however, since the chassis proved too light and the projects moved on to other platforms or were canceled altogether but I’ll tell you more about that when we get to the SPG’s.

SPG version of the Tk fm/49 armed with 10,5cm Haub m/40

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Mortar carrier version of the Tk fm/49 with dual 12cm mortars

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The tests of the prototypes continued well into 1950, but concerns arose about the low armor layout and it was decided to rework the frontal armor, so that it had better sloping. The second version of the vehicle, which incorporated these improvements later became known as Ikv 72 (infantry gun carriage). The main changes from the earlier model were a slightly reworked hull with a larger crew compartment and the use of a 145hp Ford V8 engine. The vehicle also became considerably heavier with a total weight of 8 tons, but with a better power to weight ratio of 18hp/t and slightly lower top speed of 57kph. In 1953, this vehicle was ordered into production with the first series of 36 vehicles following within a year. The armament of the vehicle was however not satisfactory for infantry support and work began on finding a bigger gun for it. It seems that as a part of this search, an older 10,5cm gun, originally used on the ww2 era Sav m/43 assault gun was tested, but we only have one small picture of a vehicle re-armed with this gun.

Ikv 72 production version

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Ikv 72 with the 10,5cm L/21 gun used on the Sav m/43

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In any case, with the help of Bofors, the 10,5cm Haub m/40 howitzer was adapted for use on the Ikv 72. In 1956-58, all vehicles were rebuilt with a new roof and other improvements, as well as fitted with the gun. As such, the vehicle was re-designated Ikv 102. In this configuration, the vehicle served until mid 70s, when it was replaced by the Ikv 91.

Ikv 102

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In World of Tanks

In my opinion, the Tk fm/43 and a combined Ikv 72 and Ikv 102 should be integrated in the game as part of a Swedish TD line. My idea is to use the different Ikv projects to compose a full line of small and speedy, but poorly armored TDs, that should stand out from the other TD lines already in the game. As for specific gameplay styles of the Tk fm/43 and Ikv 72, they would be rather similar to the current British tier 4 TD, the Alecto. Basically, these two vehicles would be tiny and fast derp gun carriers, which would be able to use their amazing gun depression to work ridgelines and to hopefully not expose their weak armor.

Statistics

Tankett fm/49
Weight: 6,5t
Length: 4,6m
Width: 2,25m
Height: 1,6m
Crew: 3
Ground clearance: 0,35m
Power to weight ratio: 17,5hp/t
Armor: (19/7/5)
Radio: Ra 100
Top speed: 60kph
Armament: 75mm Strvkan m/41, 84mm kan Ikv
Engine: Volvo FE (105hp), Ford V8 (145hp)
Elevation/Depression: +20/-25
Gun traverse: 20dg

Ikv 72
Weight: 8t
Length (total): 5,8m
Length (without gun): 4,95m
Width: 2,23m
Height: 1,6m
Crew: 4
Power to weight ratio: 18,1hp/t
Armor: (18,5/7/5)
Top speed: 57kph
Ground pressure: 0,32kg/cm^2
Ground clearance: 0,35m
Track width: 400mm
Engine: Ford V8 (145hp)
Armament: 75mm Strvkan m/41, 105mm L/21, 105mm Kan Ikv 102
Carried ammo: 42 rounds (75mm)
Elevation/Depression: +20/-20

Next time we will be taking a look at the Ikv 103 and the first of the Ikv 91 proposals

Part I: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/03/07/swedish-tanks-part-i-strv-m21-29/
Part II: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/03/12/swedish-tanks-part-ii-strv-m31-strv-fm31/
Part III: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/03/15/swedish-tanks-part-iii-landsverk-l-100-and-l-120/
Part IV: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/03/21/swedish-tanks-part-iv-landsverk-l-60/
Part V: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/03/27/swedish-tanks-part-v-strv-m37-and-strv-m41/
Part VI: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/04/08/swedish-tanks-part-vi-sav-m43/
Part VII: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/04/18/swedish-tanks-part-vii-strv-m42/
Part VIII: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/05/08/swedish-tanks-part-viii-pvkv-m43/
Part IX: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/05/12/swedish-tanks-part-ix-tlp-46-and-strv-leo
Part X: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/05/15/swedish-tanks-part-x-strv-lansen/
Part XI: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/05/17/swedish-tanks-part-xi-ls-50/
Part XII: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/06/01/swedish-tanks-part-xii-emil-1951/
Part XIII: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/07/15/swedish-tanks-part-xii-emil-1952-1958/
Part XIV: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/07/23/swedish-tanks-part-xiv-strv-81/
Part XV: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/08/06/swedish-tanks-part-xv-strv-a-strv-t-strv-k/
Part XVI: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/08/13/swedish-tanks-part-xvi-the-s-tank-1956-1961/
Part XVII: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/08/21/swedish-tanks-part-xvii-strv-103/
Part XVIII: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/08/27/swedish-tanks-part-xviii-strv-74/

11 thoughts on “Swedish Tanks – Part XIX: Ikv 72 & Ikv 102

    • I dont think we will see all of them in the game but i do hope we get to see the majority of what i have covered, although we wont see the first swedish tnks untill the european tree comes in like a year or two

  1. The fun when it is half a meter longer, thinner and less tall then a Leichttraktor with a 105mm derp!