Jagdpanzer 102

Jagdpanzer 102
Side profile of a Jagdpanzer 102
Type	Tank destroyer
Place of origin	Arcaenia
Production history
Designer	Landwerke AG
Designed	1944-1945
Manufacturer	Landwerke AG
Produced	1945-1959
No. built	400
Specifications
Weight	52.7 tonnes
Length	10.97 metres (36 ft 0 in) (gun forward)
Width	3.42 metres (11 ft 3 in)
Height	2.71 metres (8 ft 11 in)
Crew	4 (driver, commander, gunner, loader)
Armour	100 mm (3.9 in) frontal 120 mm (4.7 in) mantlet 60 mm (2.4 in) sides 40 mm (1.6 in) rear
Main armament	10.5 cm L/68 gun, 40 rounds
Secondary armament	2x 7.92 MG 45 machine guns 1,800 rounds
Engine	AMG HL445 V12 diesel engine 900 PS
Power/weight	19 PS (13.9 kW) / tonne
Transmission	AMG AK 8-300 8 forward 4 reverse
Suspension	longitudinal torsion bar
Ground clearance	540 mm (21 in)
Fuel capacity	860 litres (190 imp gal; 230 US gal)
Operational range	340 km (210 mi) (road) 200 km (120 mi) (off road)
Speed	60 km/h (37 mph) (maximum)

The Jagdpanzer 102 (JPz 102) was a tank destroyer designed by Landwerke AG for the Arcaenian Army.

Design

Armament

The primary armament of the JPz 102 consisted of a Röhrstahl manufactured 10.5 cm L/68 gun firing single piece 105 × 770mmR ammunition. The gun was a modified version of Röhrstahl's 10.5 cm heavy anti-aircraft gun and featured a two-piece barrel 68 calibers long with a semi-automatic vertical breech mechanism. Accurate at ranges exceeding 3,000 meters the gun has a very flat trajectory and the ability to penetrate the frontal armor of virtually all contemporary tanks at all practical ranges. The gun was designed to fire three types of ammunition including the Pzgr m/39 APCBC-HE, Pzgr m/40 APCR, and Sprgr m/43 HE round. The Pzgr 39 APCBC-HE (armor piercing, ballistic-capped with explosive filler) round launched a 18.0 kg projectile at a velocity of 1,000 m/s with the ability to penetrate 250 mm of vertical armor plate at 1,000 meters. The Pzgr 40 APCR (armour piercing, composite rigid) round launched a 11.3 kg projectile at a velocity of 1,150 m/s with the ability to penetrate 275 mm of vertical armor plate at 1,000 meters. The vehicle could also fire the Sprgr 42 high explosive round which fired a 15.1 kg projectile at a velocity of 900 m/s. In later service the Pzgr m/39 and Pzgr m/40 rounds were replaced with the PzGr m/61 APDS-t round which launched a 6.2 kilogram subcaliber tungsten carbide proejctile at a velocity of 1,550 m/s with the ability to penetrate 440 mm of vertical armor plate at a 1,000 meters or 400 mm of vertical armor plate at 2,000 meters. In later service the vehicle was also fitted with the Hl.Gr m/60 hollow charge (HEAT) round which launched a 10.2 kg projectile at a velocity of 1128 m/s with the ability to penetrate 380 mm of vertical armor plate at any range. The main gun was mounted in a limited-traverse mount with –8° to + 14° elevation and 13° left and right traverse. A total of 40 rounds of ammunition were carried onboard the vehicle.

Secondary armament consisted of a coaxial Röhrstahl manufactured 7.92 mm MG 45 machine gun and another MG 45 mounted on a ring mount on the commanders cupola. 1,200 rounds of ammunition were carried for the coaxial machine gun and another 600 rounds for the roof mounted machine gun. Two 9mm submachine guns were also kept inside the fighting compartment with 400 9×19 mm rounds stored inside the vehicle.

Optics

The main of the vehicle gun was aimed using a Winkelzielfernrohr 21P (WZF 21P) periscopic gun sight which projected upward through a large curved sliding cover in the vehicle’s roof armor. The sight had a magnification of 10x and a 7° field of view with range settings for 0 to 4,000 meters with the PzGr 39 and PzGr 40 rounds and 0 to 8,000 meters with the Sprgr 43 round. The vehicle was also equipped with an Entfernungsmesser 132S (EM 132S) stereoscopic rangefinder with a 1.32 meter base which has a magnification of 15x and a 4° field of view.

For fighting at night the vehicle could be equipped with both Zielgerät 1223 (ZG 1223) and Zielgerät 1250 (ZG 1250) night vision optics. The ZG 1223 was mounted to the glacis plate and consisted of an 18 kV AC infrared lamp and a 9 centimeter diameter passive receiver telescope which detected the reflected radiation of the emitter and converted it into visible light. The ZG 1223 had a 30° field of view and a range of 200 meters and was intended to allow the driver to drive the tank under low light conditions. The ZG 1250 was mounted to the ring mount on the commander's cupola and consisted of a 12V, 200 W infrared emitter with a diameter of 20 cm and a passive receiver telescope 50 cm long and 12.7 cm in diameter which detected the reflected radiation of the emitter and converted it into visible light. For observation the device could be rotated a full 360° around the commander's cupola and for fire control could be locked forward at the 12 o’clock position. The device had a 30° field of view and a range of 4600 meters in active mode and 8,000 meters in passive mode when using illumination from a 60 cm infrared searchlight mounted on a separate halftrack vehicle. The ZG 1250 was fed from a battery/generator set installed inside the aft right munition rack of the fighting compartment which took the place of 2 rounds of ammunition. When not is use the device could be taken down and placed in armored box in place of the right standard storage bin on the back of the hull.

Armor

The chassis and superstructure of the vehicle was constructed from welded and interlocking armor plates made from E22 grage high tensile armor steel alloy which were heavily sloped to increase their effective thickness and to increase the chance of deflecting enemy shots. The front upper glacis plate of the vehicle was 100 mm at a 60° angle with the lower glacis plate was 60 mm at a 60° angle. This resulted in an effective armor thickness of 200 mm for the upper glacis and 120 mm for the lower glacis which rendered the vehicle proof against most contemporary tank and anti-tank guns. The gun was protected by a cast mantlet which was 120mm thick. The sides of the hull were 60 mm while the sides of the superstructure were 30mm sloped inward at a 45° angle. The rear of the hull and superstructure were 40 mm thick. The belly was 16mm thick while the roof of the hull and superstructure was 30mm.

Engine and transmission

The vehicles were powered by an AMG HL445 V12 diesel engine which delivered 900 PS (662 kW) at 2,400 RPM. The HL445 was a naturally aspirated, water-cooled, fuel injected V12 diesel engine with a 162 mm bore, 180 mm stroke, and total a displacement of 44.5 liters. The engine was naturally aspirated with compression ratio of 17 to 1 and weighed 790 kg. The HL445 engine was mounted at the rear of the vehicle with engine power transmitted to the front mounted transmission via a driveshaft under the main fighting compartment floor. The transmission was located at the front of the vehicle to the right of the driver. The transmission was the AMG AK 8-300 hydraulically-controlled semi-automatic transmission with eight forward gears and four reverse gears with pre-selective hydraulic engagement. The transmission's steering unit consisted of a fully regenerative, double-differential continuous hydrostatic steering system with neutral steering capability. Then transmission final drives bolted directly to the hull from the outside and consisted of a two stage gear reduction a straight spur gear reduction followed by an epicyclic gear reduction. The maximum speed of the vehicle was 60 km/h with an operational range (with 860l of fuel) of around 340 km on roads and 200 km off road.

Suspension and tracks

The suspension system of the vehicle consisted of the front drive sprockets, rear idlers and eight interleaved rubber-rimmed steel road wheels on each side suspended using a longitudinal torsion bar suspension system. The longitudinal torsion bar suspension system consisted of four suspension units each with two overlapping 860 mm diameter rubber rubber-rimmed steel road wheels connected with swing arms to a bogie with two 1,075 mm long longitudinal torsion bars. Each suspension unit was bolted to the hull side and bottom plate, allowing them to be easily removed for repair or replacement. The vehicle used 660 mm wide double-link tracks with dual center guides which gave the vehicle a ground pressure of 0.89 kg/cm2. Although rather heavy at over 50 tonnes the combination of interleaved torsion bar suspensions, fairly wide tracks, and a high power to weight ratio gave the vehicle good maneuverability and mobility over rough ground.

Crew

The vehicle had a crew of four including a driver, commander, gunner, and loader. The driver sat in the font left side of the vehicle and for vision was provided with two angled periscopes to see ahead which protruded out of the upper glacis plate under a protective armored cover. Behind the driver was positioned the gunner. The commander sat behind the gunner and had a cupola with seven slots for replaceable watertight and bullet resistant periscopes for external vision. The commander's cupola also had a circular ring mount with an MG 45 machine gun to which could be also be mounted a V-shaped rangefinder or ZG 1250 infrared sight. The loader was positioned on the right side of the vehicle and had two periscopes to look out for threats on the right side of the vehicle. The loader also operated the vehicle's FG 5 and FG 2 radios. The crew entered the vehicle through two hatches located on the top of the vehicle. There was an additional floor escape hatch door in the center of the vehicle that could be used to escape from the vehicle in the case of an emergency. For entering and exiting the vehicle top of the superstructure had hatches for the commander and the loader with an additional hatch at the rear of the superstructure serving as an additional entrance for the crew and to replenish ammunition.