15,5 cm bandkanon 1
| Bandkanon 1 | |
|---|---|
 Bkan 1 C at the military history museum in Boden. | |
| Type | Self-propelled artillery |
| Place of origin | Sweden |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 52 tonnes (bkan 1A) 53 tonnes (bkan 1C) |
| Length | 6.55 m 11 m (including gun) |
| Width | 3.37 m |
| Height | 3.55 m 3.85 (including AAMG) |
| Crew | 5 |
| Armor | 20 mm (maximum) |
Main armament | 15.5 cm kanon m/60 |
Secondary armament | 7.62 mm ksp 58 |
| Engine | Diesel: Rolls-Royce K60 (bkan 1A) Detroit 6V-53T (bkan 1C ) Gas turbine: Boeing 502-10MA (both) RR: 240 hp (179 kW) Det: 290 hp (216 kW) Boe: 300 hp (224 kW) |
| Power/weight | 10.38 hp/tonne (bkan 1A) 11.13 hp/tonne (bkan 1C) |
| Suspension | Hydrophneumatic |
Operational range | 230 km |
| Maximum speed | 28 km/h |
Bandkanon 1 (bkan 1) was a Swedish self-propelled artillery vehicle in use with the Swedish Army from 1967 to 2003. It was developed by Bofors under the designation artillerikanonvagn 151 (akv 151) and the chassis was based on the never adopted tank KRV. When the KRV-project was canceled the chassis of the SP-gun was re-designed to use the same drive train as the S-tank. Bkan 1 was one of the world's heaviest self-propelled artiller vehicles in use during its service and since the engines were dimensioned for the lighter S-tank the bkan was somewhat underpowered. Despite this it had very good mobility.
It had an exceptionally high rate of fire, being able to fire away 14 shells in 45 seconds[1]. Each shell had a weight of 47 kg and a tactical range of 25 km. The gun was designed to fire tactical nuclear rounds, but as Sweden decided to not produce nuclear weapons, this feature never came into use.
Use
The plan was to produced some 70 guns, but due to cuts in defence budget only 26 bandkanon 1 were manufactured. They were used as divisional artillery in Norrland, used by Bodens artilleriregemente and later Norrbottens regemente. They were organized in two battalions of 12 guns each until the late 1980s and after that, three battalions of 8 guns each until the guns were disbanded in 2003.
Versions
Bandkanon 1 has appeared in two versions, the original version was bandkanon 1 (also designated bandkanon 1 A) and after modification done during the 1980s, the version was designated bandkanon 1 C. The main difference was the introduction of a drive train more similar to the one introduced on the new "C" version of stridsvagn 103, strv 103C, other modifications were the removal of the built-in ammunition crane and the introduction of the POS 2 system for navigation, positioning and directing.
References
- Persson, Mats (2000). Pansarfordon. Retrieved 12 August, 2006.
- Wennberg, Robert (1998). Bandkanonvagn 1A. Retrieved 12 August, 2006.
- N/A, (1998). Artilleri och Granatkastare - Bandkanon 1 A. Retrieved 12 August, 2006.
Notes
- ^ With one round already loaded in the gun besides to the two seven-round magazines, the rate of fire rose to 15 rounds in 45 seconds.