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Swedish Tanks – Part XVI: The S-Tank (1956-1961)
Author: sp15 (US server)
The list of previous parts is at the bottom of the article.
You have probably heard of the S-tank, a Swedish turretless tank, designed to stop the tide of Soviet armor during the coldest days of the Cold War. But I’m willing to bet that most of you have no idea how the unconventional design came to be and that is what I’m going to try to explain in a two part special of the Swedish tanks series. Part one will be dedicated to how the design was chosen and its development between 1956 and 1961. Part two will cover the testing of the prototypes and preproduction models as well as the production version and how it could be implemented in World of Tanks.
Straight Outta Supertest: Malinovka Changes
Straight Outta Supertest: Stalingrad
Chieftain’s Hatch – Universal Carrier with 2pdr
Enjoy!
Upcoming HD Models
From Amway921′s “visit to Wargaming” video. These are apparently – according to VK Leaks community – the HD models that are being worked on right now. The ISU-152 is clear, the rest… not so much.
Armored Warfare versus World of Tanks
Hello everyone,
if you are following the world of war games closely, you are probably aware of the new upcoming game with modern tanks called Armored Warfare. Recently, there was a video issued – a first part of the developer diaries. Check it out.
Although the developer, Obsidian Entertainment, is clearly western – as you can see in the video (getting rid of that “some guy with weird haircut speaking Russian with English voiceover added” issue), the producer of Armored Warfare is actually Russian. You might see the “my.com” logo on the Armored Warfare webpage – after quick googling, you discover that the my.com service actually belongs to Mail.ru.
For those who do not know, Mail.ru is to Wargaming what Apple is to Microsoft or Sega to Nintendo – something like the main competitor on the Russian market (last year, Mail.ru games made more money off Russians than Wargaming). It is the most influential and widespread Russian internet provider and website owner and their portfolio includes (in Russia) very popular browser games. It is also not their first attempt to “ride the wave” of armor popularity started by World of Tanks – previously, they created what was essentially a World of Tanks clone (with shitty graphics, browser based). After some legal skirmishes the dust settled and Wargaming came out as the winner, keeping its large share of the pie. And now, Mail.ru is back with a vengeance and they are going real smart about it.
Lego Sherman vs Panther :)
Hello everyone,
apparently, this series of videos are widely known, but I didn’t know about them until like yesterday, so – in case it’s unfamiliar to you as well…. enjoy :) Thanks to Ig for sending me the link. Damn, a lot of work was probably invested in making this.
Swedish Tanks – Part XV: Strv A, Strv T & Strv K
Author: sp15 (US server)
The list of previous parts is at the bottom of the article.
In 1958, as a part of the defense materiel plan for the 1960s, it was decided that the Swedish army should acquire a new tank to replace the Centurion. This was more or less a response to the development of the new generation of tanks in the west, such as the Leopard 1 and the Chieftain. Although Sweden had interest in these foreign designs (most notably the Chieftain), it was decided that a native design would be preferable. Based on different ideas about tank development at the time, these designs were categorized as three different classes of tank.
Type A (Based on the English and American model of building heavy and well armored tanks)
Type T (Based on the French and German idea of a lightly armored tank with good mobility)
Type S (Original Swedish concept of a turretless tank that would combine the armor of a heavier tank but with the weight and mobility of a lighter one)
However these were not just categories for foreign tank designs, but these also became the basis for three Swedish proposals called Strv A, Strv T and Strv S.
Comparison of the proposed tanks with the Strv 81 (Centurion Mk 3)
BT-42, an improvised Finnish Assault Gun/SPG
Author: Juuso ‘Kantti’ Marttila
As a small nation, Finnish Armored Forces resorted mostly to captured or bought equipment. They still had one unique vehicle that should prove interesting to WoT players and could easily be seen implemented in the game. This vehicle was the BT-42, an improvised Finnish Assault Gun.
In order to add more firepower to their armored Brigade – mostly equipped with obsolete T-26s, the Finnish army resorted to indigenous improvisation. Finnish troops had captured a plethora of BT-7s which couldn’t be put into use as such, but they were erroneously deemed suitable as platform for a new improvised assault guns, the BT-42. In total, 18 captured BT-7s were converted to BT-42s from 1942 onwards. In Valtion Tykkitehdas, they were fitted with a new turret, that shared some likeness with the dreaded KV-2, although it could be only barely called armored.
Blueprints of the turret
KV-2-like look was even more clear after the guns were installed. They were the British Q-F. 4.5 inch Mk II howitzers, that had been donated by the British to the Finnish army in the Winter War. Finnish called this gun 114Psv.H/18 (114mm tank howitzer).