Pansarbandvagn 301 (pbv 301), meaning roughly ''armoured tracked carrier vehicle 301'', was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

infantry fighting vehicle An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle and armoured personnel carrier used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct fire, direct-fire suppo ...

() used by the

Swedish Army The Swedish Army () is the army, land force of the Swedish Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. Beginning with its service in 1521, the Swedish Army has been active for more than 500 years. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1 ...

. It was designed to carry a squad of 8 fully armed

panzergrenadier (), abbreviated as ''PzG'' (WWII) or ''PzGren'' (modern), meaning ''Armoured fighting vehicle, "Armour"-ed fighting vehicle "Grenadier"'', is the German language, German term for the military doctrine of mechanized infantry units in armoured fo ...

s () into battle and provide direct-fire support for them in combat. The panzergrenadiers could opt to either fight from inside the vehicle through hatches on the roof or dismount the vehicle and fight in its vicinity.

Design

The pbv 301 was armed with a

Bofors AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms manufacturer BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years. History Locate ...

L/70 aircraft gun taken from scrapped Saab 21 fighter aircraft, mounted in an oscillating housing above a rotating cupola. It was fed from 75 round belts stored inside the vehicle, with 450 rounds total. Inside the vehicle were mountings for a variety of infantry weapons and munitions, such as an

FN MAG The FN MAG (, , ) is a Belgian 7.62 mm calibre, 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, designed in the early 1950s at Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, Fabrique Nationale (FN) by Ernest Vervier. It has been used by more than 80 countries and it h ...

and a Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle with 9 rounds. The pbv 301 was an interim solution, built on the chassis from the obsolete

stridsvagn m/41 Stridsvagn m/41 (Strv m/41) was a Swedish medium tank. A license-built version of the Czechoslovak Panzer 38(t), TNH medium tank, it served into the 1950s. History Since 1937, the Swedish army had been interested in the Czechoslovakian TNH tank. ...

tank (which in turn is the licensed variant of the Czech THN/LT vz. 38), in service since 1942. It was introduced in 1961 and removed from service in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the replacement

pbv 302 Pansarbandvagn 302 (pbv 302), meaning roughly ''armoured tracked carrier vehicle 302'', is a Swedish high-mobility infantry fighting vehicle () used by the Swedish Army from 1966 to 2014. The vehicle was commissioned by the Swedish Army in 1961 a ...

came into use. The pbv 301 replaced the open-topped

terrängbil m/42 KP Terrängbil m/42 KP (tgb m/42 KP), meaning "terrain car m/42 KP" (''KP'' standing for ''Karosseri Pansar'', "Coachwork Armour"), colloquially known as "KP-cars" (), was an early Sweden, Swedish infantry fighting vehicle developed during World War I ...

IFV as the main infantry fighting vehicle of the Swedish Army.

Images

File:Swedish Mechanized Forces Advance by Sjögren.jpg, A Pbv 301 with dismounted infantry File:Pansarbandvagn 301 Revinge 2019-2.jpg, A Pbv 301 with mounted infantry File:PBV 301 mg 7765.jpg, The interior of a Pbv 301 File:20 mm akan m45B Bofors i Pbv 301.png, Pbv 301 20 mm cannon cupola

Variants

*''Pansarbandvagn 301'' -

Infantry fighting vehicle An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle and armoured personnel carrier used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct fire, direct-fire suppo ...

version, 185 produced *''Stridsledningspansarbandvagn 3011'' (slpbv 3011) - Command version, 20 produced *''Eldledningspansarbandvagn 3012'' (epbv 3012) -

Artillery observer An artillery observer, artillery spotter, or forward observer (FO) is a soldier responsible for directing artillery and mortar fire support onto a target. An artillery observer usually accompanies a tank or infantry unit. Spotters ensure that ...

version, 15 produced

Footnotes

Sources

* * *

External links

Pansarbandvagn 301 at Axvall

Bofors presentation reel
{{ColdWarSwedishAFVs Armoured personnel carriers of Sweden Tracked armoured personnel carriers Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s Infantry fighting vehicles of the Cold War