Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: GScholz on May 11, 2014, 02:36:52 PM

Title: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: GScholz on May 11, 2014, 02:36:52 PM
For tank-buffs...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiWCpIJ5dBw

Interesting video of the damage trials carried out on the S-tank.
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: GScholz on May 11, 2014, 02:37:52 PM
Oh, and hit the CC button if the subtitles don't show automatically.
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: Volron on May 11, 2014, 02:58:48 PM
That was awesome.  Nice. :aok
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: save on May 11, 2014, 03:38:05 PM
Spend some time in that Tank.
And who needs subtitles  :)
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: Oldman731 on May 11, 2014, 05:20:49 PM
Spend some time in that Tank.
And who needs subtitles 


We can only listen to Swedish Chef so long before we need some translation.

Save, did you find the S tank to be mechanically reliable?

- oldman
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: Gman on May 11, 2014, 06:42:45 PM
Borty borty bor!

That's one tough tank for its time.  I always liked that design, considering the users would likely have been fighting a defensive war, not having a turret isn't quite as critical when you're in a static dug in position, and I've seen other videos how the suspension helps lay that gun, which actually had a surprising amount of traverse in that forward arc.  I think the trade off for the much lower profile and protection offered in a turretless tank was a good trade off for the users of this particular unit, as like I said, running and gunning, where you need to swivel that big turret about a lot more, just isn't as critical.


Good find, that was 20 minutes well spent.  Borty Bor!
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: GScholz on May 11, 2014, 07:32:26 PM
The Swedes have meny great chefs, but us Norwegians have a wønderful telephøne system.
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: save on May 12, 2014, 03:38:09 AM
Remember when I entered my national service, the tank had been in service for many year, and many improvements had been introduced.
It had ok maintenance record for its time I guess.

It was meant for sit dug-in along roads and kill bad guys coming that way, and then move back to next prepared defence line.
I did my service in the far north of Sweden, and in wintertime you could see them coming miles away because the  gas-turbine engine exhaust was coming straight up in front of the tank.

You could run it  the diesel engine alone though, but then it was really slow.

you could even swim with it, looked much like the D-day Sherman.

Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: Charge on May 13, 2014, 03:30:20 AM
Back in the 80's I recall seeing a documentary of this tank (where I lived the Swedish broadcasts were easier to receive than Finnish ones...) and the most impressive feature to me was when the tank crawled up a hill and lifted its rear to take firing position just over the hill with incredibly low visible profile.

-C+
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: save on May 14, 2014, 08:38:11 AM
If dug in with its shovel in a slope  it represented a 10-inch'ish  target excluding commanders cupola. if you dug into the snow the Tank looked like a branch sticking out of a pile of snow  :D
when you shot first round dug in in snow,  you  automatically cloaked yourself from the world creating a mini-snowstorm.
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: GScholz on May 14, 2014, 10:44:00 AM
It's a very cool tank/TD, but unfortunately it was too specialized for Swedish needs and conditions to become an export success.
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: save on May 15, 2014, 05:59:45 AM
indeed, it was meant to ambush along roads at choke-points, just as specialized was my main tank-destroyer : the IKV91, meant to flank enemy MBT's in the same terrain using extreme low ground pressure, forsaking its own protection, but was useful against moving tanks since it had computer aided gun, calculating and also auto-corrected for movement.
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: FLOOB on May 15, 2014, 06:10:24 AM
Is it true that it could be operated by just 1 person?
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: GScholz on May 15, 2014, 11:39:52 AM
Driver (front) and gunner was the same person/station, so yes. The Commander could also shoot if necessary. It is one of those very few vehicles that had two drivers; one for driving forward and one for reversing. Allowed them to keep their gun and best armor pointed towards the enemy as they fall back to new positions.
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: GScholz on May 15, 2014, 11:43:01 AM
Btw. I think it is wrong to call it a turretless vehicle. With its fixed gun and clever suspension it was more like a tracked turret!
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: save on May 15, 2014, 02:42:31 PM
you could operate the S-tank yourself, but your left side was almost totally blind for you, sitting in commanders cupola-
You could shoot about 15 rounds per minute with ít's autoloader.
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: Bodhi on May 16, 2014, 02:40:51 AM
Thanks for sharing that!
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: GScholz on May 16, 2014, 08:33:58 PM
You're welcome  :)
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: FLOOB on May 18, 2014, 09:27:10 AM
It was the greatest mortar base plate ever  :D

Could the mortar be used to fire anything but smoke and illumination rounds?


Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: save on May 18, 2014, 10:11:16 AM
No, also they where really low calibre.
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: bozon on May 20, 2014, 01:46:57 AM
You could shoot about 15 rounds per minute with ít's autoloader.
Wow that is quite awesome for an old weapon. A round every 4 seconds, is that enough time for the oscillations from the previous round to dampen? Or can the stabilized cannon handle that?
Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: save on May 20, 2014, 02:22:02 AM
If its wet and not dusty, or wet snow you can do it, the problem is more to find targets fast enough and to re-aim within few seconds :)

Remember, it was meant to sit along the big roads, dug-in, shoot a couple of shots, call down prepared arty-points and drive backwards at full speed to next prepared dug-in, so it can definitely be done.

Title: Re: Swedish S-Tank trials
Post by: save on May 21, 2014, 06:20:39 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fARGfVA7Mm8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fARGfVA7Mm8)
another video of the S-tank