E M I L

E M I L was a secret tank development project in Sweden during the early 1950s, better known under its cover-name KRV (short for Kranvagn, meaning mobile crane). The intention was to replace the disparate tank-fleet with a heavy tank, that could be upgraded continuously. The project was discontinued during development and only two chassis were built, and those chassis were later rebuilt and served as testing platforms for the Artillerikanonvagn 151 and Stridsvagn 103 projects.

Project

At the end of World War II, it was clear that the mix of tanks in service in the Swedish Armed Forces was not just obsolete but also presented a large logistical problem. Kungliga Arméförvaltningens Tygavdelning (KAFT) conducted a study that concluded that the most cost-effective alternative would be to purchase the newly developed Centurion Mk 3, which while quite modern was judged to have upgrade potential for future requirements. A request of purchase was sent to the United Kingdom, but the reply was that no deliveries could be made before the needs of the British Army had been met which was expected to take between five and fifteen years. Thus, in 1951, the vehicle bureau of KAFT set about to develop an indigenously manufactured alternative, which they did in great secrecy under the guise of constructing a mobile crane. Parallel with this, negotiations were entered with France about buying the AMX-13 light tank. All this came to an abrupt halt when the British in early December 1952 offered to sell the desired Centurions immediately in order to earn needed foreign currency. The Swedish Minister for Defence, Torsten Nilsson, ended the debate about the future tank purchase by (on his own initiative) signing a deal with the British at the beginning of 1953 with the first Centurion deliveries taking place in April 1953. The delegation in France was forced to depart under heavy apologies while the E M I L-project was terminated.

A consortium of Landsverk, Bofors and Volvo suggested to revive it for the Försvarsbeslut 1958 (white paper of Swedish defence policies 1958) where the replacement for the now ageing Centurions were to be decided upon. E M I L was however regarded as too costly and instead the S-tank proposal was put forward for the final draft which it won and it subsequently became the Stridsvagn 103.

Construction

The project was split into two parts; hull and armament. For the first studies and trials a chassis which resembled a low IS-7 was built. Three main options were considered for armament:

105 mm calibre rifled gun ~L/67
120 mm calibre rifled gun ~L/40
150 mm calibre smoothbore gun~L/40

The ammunition feed regardless of gun was planned to be a dual-drum autoloader allowing for quick selection of ordnance (armor-piercing or high explosive).

Cold War tanks

List Category

MBTs	AMX-30 AMX-40 Centurion Challenger 1 Chieftain Chonma-ho EE-T1 Osório K1 88 Leopard 1 Leopard 2 M1 Abrams M60 Patton M-84 Magach MBT-70 MBT-80 Merkava Object 187 Object 292 Object 785 OF-40 Panzer 68 Stridsvagn 103 T-62 T-64 T-72 T-80 TAM TR-85 Type 59 Type 61 Type 69/79 Type 74 Nana-yon Type 88 Vijayanta Vickers MBT WZ-122

Light	AMX-13 Expeditionary tank M8 Armored Gun System M41 Walker Bulldog M551 Sheridan PT-76 Scorpion Spähpanzer Ru 251 SK-105 Kürassier Spähpanzer SP I.C. Stingray Stridsvagn 74 T71 Light Tank T92 Light Tank Type 62 Type 63 Type 64 WZ-132

Medium	Charioteer M26 Pershing M46 Patton M47 Patton M48 Patton Panzer 58 Panzer 61 T-44 T-54/55 T95 Type 58

Heavy	AMX-50 Conqueror IS-3 Object 279 M103 T-10 T30 Stridsvagn KRV WZ-111

Tank destroyers	Infanterikanonvagn 73 Infanterikanonvagn 91 Kanonenjagdpanzer

Tank history classification WWI Interwar WWII Cold War Post–Cold War

Sources

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