Stridsvagn m/39 light tank
Sweden did not possess a large tank force at the start of WWII and the m/39 tank (entering service in 1941) was the newest she had, despite only 20 being built. It was very similar to the earlier m/38, with the provision of adding 35mm of armor plate to the front during wartime. However, since the extra weight caused faster wear on the tanks, the armor was not fitted during peacetime.
The Stridsvagn m/39 has a crew of three. The commander sits in the turret and loads the cannon. Also in the turret is the gunner, who fires the cannon and MG. The driver sits in the body. The commander manually traverses the turret at 3 degrees per second. The m/39 uses 4.8 gallons per hour at routine usage.
Subassemblies: Small Tank chassis +3, full rotation Small
AFV turret [Body:T] +2, tracks +3.
Powertrain: 106-kW gas engine w/106-kW tracked drive
train and 45 gallons fuel in standard fuel tank [body]; 8,000-kWs batteries.
Occupancy: 1 CS Body, 2 CS Turret Cargo:
5 Body, 2 Turret.
| Armor | F | RL | B | T | U |
| Body | 4/195 | 4/60 | 4/60 | 4/25 | 4/25 |
| Tracks | 4/18 | 4/18 | 4/18 | 4/18 | 4/18 |
| Turret | 4/195 | 4/60 | 4/60 | 4/25 | 0/0 |
Weaponry
37mm Medium TG/Bofors m/38 [Tur:F] (100).
2¥Ground LMG/m/36 [Tur:F] (2,500).
Statistics
| Size: 16’¥7’¥7’ | Payload: 0.56 tons | Lwt: 8.95 tons |
| Volume: 63 | Maint.: 67 hours | Price: $9,000 |
HT: 11
HP: 500 [Body], 75 [Turret], 200 [Each Track]
| gSpeed: 28 | gAccel: 3 | gDecel: 20 | gMR: 0.25 | gSR: 6 | GP: Low (2/3) |
Design Notes
The design weight was reduced 7% to match historical weight and gSpeed
was reduced from the 34mph design speed. Turret armor is Expensive.
Without the added armor, frontal DR is 60 and weight is 8.7 tons.
Variants
The m/38 (1940) was generally the same, lacking the additional armor
and having only one magcine gun. Sixteen were built.