Strv 122

Entering service this year, this tank is still an unwritten page. Training has started at the 9th mechanized brigade as well as at the 19th mechanized brigade. It a much improved version of the Leopard 2 and was chosen over state of the art competitors, the M1A2 Abrams and the Leclerc.

Improvments include a more modern TI for the gunner and a separate TI for the commander. Armor protection has been radically improved and it is highly probable that it is frontally invulnarable. The turret drive has been changed from the high performance hydraulic one to an equally high performance electrical drive that lacks flammable components and is easier to repair. The commander has a navigation system coupled to a high tech state of the art C3i system.

The tank fires the same amunition as the Strv 121, the Arrow 95 APFSDS-T and the swedish HE round. Mashinegun armament consists of two ksp 94 or MG 3 as they are designated in Germany. The tank is not identical to the german Leopard 2A5 as many think. The difference mainly being in the C3i-system  and in better protection. The added armor means that the tanks weighs almost 65 tons! The maximum speed has been reduced to a still impressive 68 km/h.   All in all it adds up to a devastating fighting vehicle with horrendous potential for destruction.  It was chosen before tanks that are by some regarded as the best in the world. This tank is undoubtatly the last thing you want on the other side of the hill! 

While probably being the best tank in the world the crews have to be well trained to take advantage of all the technical merits. In the coming years it will be pitted against the basic Leopard 2 or Strv 121 as well as the old warhorse, the Centurion. The Centurion has proven itself capable to hold its own against units with Strv 121. We will soon know if the skill of these crews will be sufficient to frustrate the Strv 122 crews as well. During three different encounters at Kvarn in early April 1998 a total of 10 Strv 121 with the targetdata of the 122 in their mounted battlesimulator, in effect making them 122:s, were killed by a numericly inferior force of Centurions that lost a total of four tanks. Almost impossible to kill frontally the Leopards were still vulnarable to flanking shots by the skilled Centurion crews. Truly no sword is more powerful than the arm wielding it!