Finally a good tank! - Swedish IKV 91

The Infanterikanonvagn 91, or in English, Infantry Cannon Vehicle 91, or short, IKV 91, was a Swedish light tank developed to support the infantry, and destroy tanks, in a highly mobile and versatile role. The 91 stood because it was a 90mm gun, and the one signalized that it was the first 90 mm gun to enter service. It was designed by Hägglunds & Söner (now known as BAE Systems Hägglunds). The IKV 91 was built to meet the Swedish Army's needs during the Cold War, which basically means, anything that can fight against the Soviets.

The history of this light tank is very interesting, and worth looking into. Also, this is actually the first video I’m making about a Swedish vehicle.

Anyways, hello and welcome and enjoy this video.

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Sources

Wikipedia (Sweden)

Wikipedia (English)

Das Panzerdetail

Army Guide

The Tank Museum

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Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
00:58 - History
03:15 - Design, armament, and other stats
06:17 - Mobility and Amphibious Capabilities
10:35 - Fire Control System
12:46 - Role and Deployment
14:16 - IKV 91-105
16:04 - Name and Public Perception
16:33 - Retirement and Legacy
17:28 - Outro

[pavelslama]

"Ok guys, we need to make it work with this engine..."
"But sir, that engine is too long."
"Fine, put it in transversely."
"But then it would be too wide."
"Fine, fine, just stuff it in somehow."
"Sir, we have stuffed it in. Somehow."

[uranusismightybig]

Nice video👍
Love Swedish weapons design, they make the coolest stuff, always thought thru from top to bottom....thats quality

[Forrest_for_the_Trees]

Awesome video, loving the always on captions. Excellent as always - thanks Bobi!

[pfridjonsson]

Very good video. Your mention of the winter spikes made me to remember an incident from 2001 when my platoon was conducting a road march in the north of Sweden. I stood in roof hatch of my sections BV206. Our metal-tracked vehicles had not put on their winter spikes and as we drove through a village (a lot of people had come out as our lead company already had passed through earlier). The vehicle in front of me, an PBV401, (an MTLB bought from Germany and refitted) lost the grip and skidded straight forward. Unfortunately, the road did not carry on straight forward but did a sharp turn to the left and instead of road there was a lot of onlookers instead. Fortunately, the treads found grip in the ice just in time so the APC made a very hasty turn to the left and did not continue in too the crowd. After that incident our platoon commander quickly ordered the crews to spike the tracks.

[tofu]

Great video, personally i love th IKV-91 its a sick looking tank

[Mattiniord]

I saw them many times as a child during during military exercises in North Sweden. Seeing them come charging over a field in deep snow was a sight to behold! The snow cascaded left and right and they just roared through it. I also came into contact with them during compulsory military service in the early 1990:s. Such awesome vehicles. It was really, really sad that they just scrapped them. We would have use of them now trying to rearm. Making a new turret with a bigger gun would have been worth it.

[johanmetreus]

Errata and elaboration:
1) vagn is similar to the German Wagen, but should be better translated into "carriage" as a LKW is lastbil (lit load/cargo automobile)
2) Knitpicking, but the Swedish forces measure in centimetres and not millimetres, so the Ikv 91 is the first vehicle accepted into service with a 9 cm cannon.
3) The main reason for the mobility needed wasn't speedy flanking manoeuvres against appearing enemy tanks, but to keep up the pace with the bandvagn 202 and bv 206, which was the main means of transportation for the Norrlandsbrigades that were specifically equipped to operate in the particular terrain in the far north of Sweden.
This terrain is characteristicized by wide pine- and spruce forests, rivers, lakes, bogs and a notorious lack of roads.
4) The main reason for using the low-pressure gun is found at 4:04, as the demand was for the amphibious vehicle to be able to fire while traversing bodies of water. The other benefits were a bonus, but came with significant drawbacks as well. The lack of a solid penetrator projectile and the low shell velocity (moving targets becomes increasingly difficult to hit the further away they are) would be the main ones.
5) The width and length of the vehicle is limited by the road regulations, as well as the less flexible railroad limitations.
Strategic mobility depends on such transportation and thus diagonal mounting.
6) The training organisation in Norrbotten was I 19 (Norrbottens regemente)/ P 5 (Norrbottens Pansarbataljon) located in Boden, and it was the latter that were responsible for the Ikv 91. Miniscule detail as P 5 was a permanent attachment.

[warwarneverchanges]

1:14 "a more mobile wehicle" S does a 360 on a dime lol

[JohnHill-qohb]

Interesting video, lots of good info and a bit of humor, well done, sir. Please, make more.

[badcam]

I was at the Sodermanlands brigade 81-82 and we had the IKV-91 there and they where mixed with the mech inf to make a panzerjager company, 11 pbv302 and 6 ikv91.
The Centurion tank was there also and we had 2 tank companies in the batallion, this batallion was a experiment and the ikv91 was not used by armored brigades later, every inf brigade got a ikv91 company as a antitank unit.
But the training of the ikv91 vrews was made by the panzer troops so they where panzer guys but placed in inf brigades in war time organization.
Ikv91 was the first vehicle equipped with a hunter killer cupola system so very advanced for it`s time.

[KaiserPatrik]

It's a good day when Bobi uploads

[benim]

Personally always looked at it like a more refined and lighter Leopard 1. Even though it lacked a stabilizer, looking at comparable light tanks during the era clearly shows that it was nonetheless one of, if not the best light tanks of that time period.

[MatteV]

This was not a light tank, it was a turreted assault gun, intended for infantry support.

[jimmylarsson]

Doing my military service in the Swedish army back in-77-78 we often trained together with this IKV 91. The sound of their engines was absolutely fantastic. And to see them attack in deep snow in hig speed was really something extra. We tried to keep up with them in like 75 cm snow, on foot, but it was of course totally hopeless. :-)

[chrpnll]

Nice video, and good work on the Swedish pronunciation :)

[PeterPersson-sq]

I spent ten month in that tank and yes i loved it

[rasmuswittsell]

We Swedes liked to mix things up. IKV91: Not a tank. Strv103: A tank.

The rest of the world: IKV91 is obviously a light tank. And Strv103 is obviously "something else".

The reason for the Swedish classifications is that it isn't the design but the intended role that determines what is what.

[johanbergqvist]

The IKV91 had straps on the back engine cover for infantry to hang on to while "hiking a lift". Tried that way of transportation during an exercise in the mid 80's. Quite cool but not to comfortable, or safe. 😉

[konakona]

very much love the addition of subtitles, thanks friend! also he to tear apart fathers and sons XD, nice. review croatian specific variant of m-84! m-95 degman! it is prototype tank but would still be worth talking about since it would possibly be one of the best T series tank upgrades if it was made.

[jeriksson]

I have ridden on the back armour in 1meter of snow! So much fun ✌️