Cuirassier (tank)

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Cuirassier
Tank Destroyer Cuirassier

Tank Destroyer Cuirassier
General properties
crew 3 men (driver, commander, gunner)
length 7.77 m (with pipe in marching position)
width 2.50 m
height 2.35 m (commanders cupola)
Dimensions 18 t
Armor and armament
Armor 8-40 mm
Main armament 105 mm cannon CN 105-57 with muzzle brake, automatic loading device and thermal cover
Secondary armament 7.62mm machine gun 74
agility
drive water-cooled six-cylinder 4-stroke diesel engine with direct injection and exhaust gas turbocharging, type designation "4KH7FA"
320 PS (235 kW)
Top speed 68 km / h
Power / weight 17.8 hp / t
Range 470 km (road) or 360 km (terrain)
Tank Destroyer Cuirassier
Cuirassier, Army History Museum .

The Kürassier is a tank destroyer with a weighing tower made in Austria . It is also used as a light tank or a reconnaissance tank. In 1967 the then Saurerwerke (later Steyr Daimler Puch ) manufactured a prototype in the Vienna plant, and in 1971 five pre-series vehicles followed. The armed forces ordered a total of 150 tank destroyers of this type, which have been gradually decommissioned, sold or made available to museums since the turn of the millennium.

General

The Saurer infantry fighting vehicle , which was already in use in the Austrian armed forces , was modified and the turret and cannon were placed on top. The chassis consists of five rollers and three support rollers on each side, rear-wheel drive, rubber-padded chain, torsion bar suspension. The engine is located at the rear on the left - the supposedly modified Spz has the engine in the front section, where the drive takes place.

The 105 mm cannon comes from the French manufacturer GIAT .

The weighing tower also comes from France and is also used in the French AMX-13 tank . The cuirassier is similar to the AMX-50 . It is a modified FL 12/44 and equipped with a so-called apex mount , which considerably simplifies the installation of an automatic loader, but at the same time leads to a relatively high silhouette. The otherwise big disadvantage of the low elevation range (−6 ° to + 13 °) is hardly significant with a tank destroyer. To achieve this, a high rate of fire of up to twelve rounds per minute is achieved; the drums only have to be reloaded from the outside after twelve shots.

The commander's cupola is on the left side of the turret, the driver sits in the front left, and the gunner is on the right in the turret.

The cuirassier has been in service with the Austrian Armed Forces since 1972.

Models

  • SK105 A1
  • SK105 A2
  • SK105 A2S
  • SK105 Super Cuirassier (prototype)
  • SK105 A3 (prototype)

The armored recovery vehicle Greif A1 ("4KH7FA SB20") and the pioneer tank SK 105 PiPz ("4KH7FA-AVE") also inherited the nickname with the engine, so that one can speak of a common platform.

Areas of use

Bolivian cuirassier
  • Austria
    • 152 KÜRASSIER SK-105 A2 tank destroyer
    • 133 KÜRASSIER SK-105 A1 tank destroyer (mothballed)
    • 36 armored recovery vehicles
    • 18 engineer tanks
  • Argentina
    • 112
    • 8 armored recovery vehicles
  • Morocco
    • 111
  • Tunisia ( Army )
    • 42
  • Bolivia
    • 36
    • 1 armored recovery vehicle
  • Botswana
    • 20th
    • 2 armored recovery vehicles
  • Brazil
    • 18th
    • 1 armored recovery vehicle

Technical specifications

Cuirassier in road traffic.
Cuirassier with rain cover
  • Short name: JaPz K ("Kürassier"), JaPzKA2
  • Manufacturer: Steyr Daimler Puch
  • Year of construction: 1969–1998
  • Weight: 18 t
  • Crew:
    • 1 tank commander
    • 1 gunner
    • 1 tank driver
  • Speed: 68 km / h
  • Driving range:
    • by road: 470 km
    • off-road: 360 km
  • Climbing ability: 0.8 m
  • Crossing ability: 2.4 m
  • Gradeability: 75%
  • Wading ability: 1 m
  • Engine: water-cooled six-cylinder 4-stroke diesel engine with direct injection and exhaust gas turbocharging 235 kW (320 PS) Torque: 1100 Nm, type designation "4KH7FA"
  • Drive:
    • five rollers, three support rollers, torsion bar suspension, hydraulic shock absorbers for the first and fifth roller. Chain: Diehl 224A connector chains (0.38 m wide, support length: 3.04 m), 78 links
  • Armor:
    • Tub: front: 20 mm, side: 14 mm, rear: 12 mm, roof: 8 mm
    • Tower: front: 40 mm, side: 20 mm, rear 20 mm, roof: 10 mm
  • Protection:
    • Explosion suppression system in the tower, fire extinguishing system in the engine compartment, NBC protective device to which the NBC protective masks of the commander and gunner are connected.
  • Armament:
    • 105 mm cannon CN 105-57 with muzzle brake and thermal casing (constant right-hand twist, 32 puffs) / manufacturer GIAT (France)
    • one 7.62mm MG74 (coaxial)
    • six fog throw cups (70 mm)
  • Ammunition types:
    • OCC-105-F1 (high-explosive shaped charge anti-tank projectile). The effective firing range is 1900 m, muzzle velocity: 800 m / s, the penetration rate: 360-380 mm armor steel at an angle of impact of 90 degrees, 150 mm at 65 degrees.
    • OE-105-F1 (HE shell against soft targets). Impact fuse, the explosion zone has a diameter of about 20 m.
    • OFL-105-G1 (armor piercing bullet). The tungsten carbide arrow leaves the tube at a muzzle velocity of 1475 m / s - a warhead is no longer necessary at this speed. Penetration power about 500–550 mm armor steel at an angle of impact of 90 degrees. The two-chamber muzzle brake had to be exchanged for a single-chamber muzzle brake in order to allow the sabot ammunition to be fired.
    • Practice grenade: For reasons of cost, converted grenades of the 105 mm howitzers M2A1 and A2, which have been retired from the Army, are fired for training purposes.
    • OFI-105-F1 (smoke grenade)
    • SCC-105-F1 (training hollow charge grenade)
  • Ammunition supply:
    • twelve in loading drums, five in the turret cage, 26 in the vehicle body, if necessary one shot in the cartridge stop behind the bolt + 2000 rounds for the machine gun
  • Additional equipment:
    • electronic fire control system (from the Israeli company ELBIT)
    • Thermal imaging night combat equipment
  • Dimensions
    • Length: (cannon 12 o'clock) 7.77 meters
    • Width: 2.50 meters
    • Height of the upper edge of the bathtub: 1.54 meters
    • Height of the top of the tower: 2.17 meters
    • Commander's dome height: 2.35 meters

Museum reception

See also

literature

  • Walter J. Spielberger: Motor vehicles and tanks of the Austrian army 1896 to today , Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-87943-455-7 .
  • FM by Senger and Etterlin : "Tanks of the World 1983" by Arms and Armor Press / London

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Manfried Rauchsteiner , Manfred Litscher (ed.): The Army History Museum in Vienna. Graz, Vienna 2000 p. 96.

Web links

Commons : SK105 - Cuirassier  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Kürassier  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations