Strv 124
| Stridsvagn 124 Pantera | |
|---|---|
 Acrean Strv 124C | |
| Type | Main Battle Tank |
| Place of origin |  Acrea |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1980-Present |
| Used by | Acrea Ruvelka Shalum |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Landrut Landsystemet GmbH Landsverk AG Maybach AG Kobalt-Zeiss GmbH & Co KG Thyssen AB |
| Designed | 1970-1979 |
| Manufacturer | Landrut Landsystemet GmbH |
| Produced | 1979-Present |
| No. built | 12,872 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 63 tonnes (Strv 124A/M) 65 tonnes (Strv 124C) |
| Length | 7.7 metres (hull) |
| Width | 3.7 metres (Strv 124A/M) 4.0 metres (Strv 124C) |
| Height | 2.55 metres (Hull) |
| Crew | 4 |
| Armor | Skramsø (Strv 124A) Kolmården (Strv 124C) |
Main armament | KvK m/80-L44 120mm smoothbore tank gun (Strv 124A) KvK m/03-L55 120mm smoothbore tank gun (Strv 124M) KvK m/17-L55 120mm electrothermal-chemical tank gun (Strv 124C2) |
Secondary armament | 7.62mm MG 1A3 Various Top-Mounted 7.62mm and 20mm guns |
| Engine | Thyssen-Maybach MTU K1-89B V12 Turbocharged Diesel 1193,12kw (1600 hp) |
| Power/weight | 19,89kw per tonne |
| Transmission | Maybach CV-12TC Continuously Variable Transmission |
| Suspension | Hydropneumatic Active Suspension |
Operational range | 500 km |
| Speed | 75 km/h (Road) ~50 km/h (Cross-Country) |
The Stridsvagn 124 Pantera is a main battle tank developed by Landrut Landsystemet in the late 1970s for the Acrean Armed Forces. It first entered production in 1979 and entered service as Strv 124 in 1980, succeeding the Strv 104 as the main battle tank of the Acrean Army. With the original conception that led to Strv 124 by Armoured Force being drawn up 1959, various versions of Strv 124 have served in the armies of Acrea and 2 other nations in several conflicts across Tyran, and its design has inspired new developments in the heavy armour of other nations such as Ossoria and Syara.
The tank has four main development batches, which are referred to as Tranches. Tranche I, which bears no indicator in the name of the tank, consists of the original three models of the tank produced from 1979-1984. Tranche II, which carries the A designation, incorporates an improved armour package and some updates to the fire control systems, and was produced from 1985 to 1991. Starting production in 1991, Tranche III bears the designation M and is the most visually distinctive with the introduction of the tank's now-ubiquitous arrowhead turret. The hull was also constructed with a new armour package to complement the improved turret, and the M series tanks also see an increase in firepower with the introduction of a 55-calibre main gun in 2003. These tanks are sometimes referred to as Strv 124M2, however as nearly all M-series tanks were updated to the new gun.
The final batch, Tranche IV, carries the designation C and is substantially more capable in both armour and armament than its predecessors. Strv 124Cs are constructed using Kolmården armour developed by Landsverk that provides substantially increased protection. Beginning in 2017, Pantera tanks have been armed with the KvK m/17-L55, the first production electrothermal-chemical gun to be put into service in Tyran, having begun its development in 1998. New improvements related to situational awareness, thermal signature reduction, and communications systems have also been installed in C-series tanks, although not all have been upgraded to the new main gun, leading to tanks without the gun being referred to as C1 and tanks with the gun referred to as C2.
Etymology
The Strv 124 follows the Acrean Army's naming conventions for armoured vehicles first established in 1950. This is done via the appropriate name, in this case Strv for a tank, followed by which vehicle numerically the tank is in Acrean service with a given gun size. The Pantera is the 4th tank in Acrean service with a 12cm gun, therefore it received the name Strv 124. It was given the name Pantera as an homage to the Big Cat names that have been used for Acrean tanks since the Eracuran Great War.
History
Development
The desire for a 12cm armed main battle tank was present even as the Strv 104 entered service in 1961. Heavy tanks such as the Strv 121 had been developed of a means of ever-increasing armour on new Azurlav and Ruvelkan heavy tanks. While Azurlav vehicles were small in number and the Ruvelkans were an ally of Acrea, the increasing mobility and protective capabilities of these heavy tanks concerned Acrean military planners that more heavily armoured tanks would the standard for potential adversaries in the near-future. This was combined with the limited utility of heavy tanks such as Strv 121. The remarkable mobility and substantial firepower of Strv 104, Acrea's first purpose-designed main battle tank, despite it not being as heavily armoured as Strv 121, was a major step forward in Acrean armoured vehicle technology. In addition to this, their prior experience with Strv 91 which unintentionally had been designed with many of the same qualities had firmly fixed Acrean military officials that the MBT concept would be the basis for all future tank designs, and considered heavy tanks to be largely unnecessary.
Thus, in 1959, only a few years after Strv 121's introduction, Armoured Force set out a list of general requirements for a main battle tank armed with a 12cm main gun. The decision was made fairly early on that the new tank would be equipped with a 120mm main gun like that found on Strv 121. Improved technology found in the development of Strv 104's 105mm gun could be applied to developing a new 120mm gun based on it.
The first vehicles produced under the requirements were tested in 1964. The design was rather familiar, using a modified Strv 104 chassis mounted with a new, expanded, boxier turret also utilising newly developed composite armour. Despite, for the most part, working, the prototype designated T-11 proved unsatisfactory in several ways. The turret was more cramped, as the use of Strv 104's chassis meant that despite the physically larger turret, the turret ring had not been increased in size, resulting in a relatively small increase in space for the area within the turret that the larger gun now took up. The gun also had less depression and elevation than the 105mm equipped Strv 104, and was slower to load. Ammunition capacity was substantially reduced, and safety concerns regarding the ammunition's stowage were carried over from Strv 104. Ultimately, despite these numerous flaws, new developments from Azurlavaj and other countries meant that T-11 was accepted for limited production as Strv 122 in 1965 while further research and development continued.
Using lessons learned from field use of Strv 122, several major changes were made. Rather than using the same chassis as Strv 104, the same effective layout was kept whilst increasing the proportions, granting a larger hull that could accommodate a larger turret. A new turret design was implemented, which adopted the relatively boxy form of its predecessor but was not constrained by being based on the turret of Strv 104. This new prototype was given the name T-14, and tests of the vehicle were very promising. T-14 fixed several of the flaws present in T-11. Ammunition stowage was rearranged, allowing for a more adequate 41 rounds of ammunition to be stowed in the tank. The bottom of the hull was fitted with blowout-panels for hull ammunition stowage, a feature that was retrofitted to existing Strv 104s and 122s. The hull was better armoured for little effective loss in mobility thanks to a more powerful engine and lighter composite armour in both the hull and turret, and the crew ergonomics were much improved. While it was still not perfect, with Armoured Force seeing greater potential and its designers still continuing further development while existing T-14 prototypes were tested, the type was likewise put into production as Strv 123 in 1969. Though still limited, it saw more substantial use than Strv 122, with 625 examples being put into service.