Post by Admin on Jan 25, 2020 8:39:10 GMT
Sweden: The mighty Stridsvagn (main battle tank) 103.
Being a design started in the late 50s, it was truly amazing. Gas-turbine, lower than anything and built to fit Swedish strategy exactly. Three-man crew, one of them tasked with driving the tank backwards - which is ingenious when you face a stronger enemy. Shoot, retreat, stop, shoot, repeat.
What enabled it to be so low and sneaky?The cannon was fixed to the hull, aiming was done with the entire tank, using advanced hydraulic suspension. Worked like a charm. Revolutionary.
In short, the best tank for Sweden. Ever.
Until somebody refined the aiming systems that enabled (other) tanks to shoot while driving at speed to the point of perfection.
The 103 must have a record for how fast it went from brilliant to obsolete.
It's still good looking, though.
We drive German tanks now. Latest evolution of Leopard 2. Good stuff.
Oh, by the way: While waiting for a new tank, we refurbished our old (WWII-era) Centurions and gave them active armour, shoot-while-driving capability and a better drive train. Reportedly, it ate 103s for lunch in simulated battles. The humiliation.
But again, the 103 looks cool!
As some commenters have emphasized, it was actually a great (one of the leaders) main battle tank, and it remained great for 3–4 decades. What makes it a “funny fail” is that some of the ingenious and unconventional design decisions made it suddenly find itself at a dead end. A path forward, i.e. an upgrade path to stay among the leaders, didn't exist (or rather, it would have been way too expensive).
For example, it could fire an accurate shot, twist 90 degrees and fire another accurate shot - just as fast as a turreted tank could. So what do you do to the drive train, tracks and suspension when the competition suddenly become twice as fast at doing that (also at, like, 70 km/h)? Dead end.
For comparison, look at the Abrams M1 and its evolutions. It's as old as the 103 was when it left us, but the latest iteration is less than a year old and is one of the three contenders for #1 position today. The other two - Leopard and Challenger, according to even geekier Quorans - have a similar history, and their latest iterations are also brand new. The M1 and its future versions will probably stick around for several decades more.
So again: The 103 was amazing, but in the end, a funny (not haha but oops) fail.
What enabled it to be so low and sneaky?The cannon was fixed to the hull, aiming was done with the entire tank, using advanced hydraulic suspension. Worked like a charm. Revolutionary.
In short, the best tank for Sweden. Ever.
Until somebody refined the aiming systems that enabled (other) tanks to shoot while driving at speed to the point of perfection.
The 103 must have a record for how fast it went from brilliant to obsolete.
It's still good looking, though.
We drive German tanks now. Latest evolution of Leopard 2. Good stuff.
Oh, by the way: While waiting for a new tank, we refurbished our old (WWII-era) Centurions and gave them active armour, shoot-while-driving capability and a better drive train. Reportedly, it ate 103s for lunch in simulated battles. The humiliation.
But again, the 103 looks cool!
As some commenters have emphasized, it was actually a great (one of the leaders) main battle tank, and it remained great for 3–4 decades. What makes it a “funny fail” is that some of the ingenious and unconventional design decisions made it suddenly find itself at a dead end. A path forward, i.e. an upgrade path to stay among the leaders, didn't exist (or rather, it would have been way too expensive).
For example, it could fire an accurate shot, twist 90 degrees and fire another accurate shot - just as fast as a turreted tank could. So what do you do to the drive train, tracks and suspension when the competition suddenly become twice as fast at doing that (also at, like, 70 km/h)? Dead end.
For comparison, look at the Abrams M1 and its evolutions. It's as old as the 103 was when it left us, but the latest iteration is less than a year old and is one of the three contenders for #1 position today. The other two - Leopard and Challenger, according to even geekier Quorans - have a similar history, and their latest iterations are also brand new. The M1 and its future versions will probably stick around for several decades more.
So again: The 103 was amazing, but in the end, a funny (not haha but oops) fail.
