Right side view of a Swiss army Panzerjäger 90 firing a TOW practice missile.
Source: Mediathek VBS -
© CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 CH
The Panzerjäger 90 is a late Cold War era tank destroyer of Swiss origin. It was acquired in the late 1980's to replace the older M38A1 jeeps with 106mm M40 recoilless rifle in Swiss service.
The Panzerjäger 90 combines the Swiss Piranha IB 6x6 chassis with the Norwegian Armored Launching Turret (ALT) for the TOW-2 anti-tank guided missile. The launcher can be manually reloaded from within the vehicle. Both a high magnification day sight and a thermal sight is fitted for target identification and engagement.
The Panzerjäger 90 is fitted with the ALT turret which has two BGM-71D TOW-2 anti-tank guided missiles ready to launch. These wire guided SACLOS missiles have a maximum range of 3.75 km. A total of 10 missiles are carried, of which 2 are ready to launch. The BGM-71D has a single HEAT warhead with an armor penetration equivalent of about 900 mm RHA.
The steel hull provides all around protection from small arms fire and shell splinters. Compared to the jeeps with recoilless rifles the Panzerjäger 90 replaced it has a much larger silhouette and is easier to spot in an ambush position. The upside is that the Panzerjäger 90 fires its missiles from under full armor protection and from a much longer engagement range. A bank of 8 smoke grenade dischargers is fitted to the turret. There is no NBC system.
The 6x6 wheeled chassis provides good mobility on roads and reasonable mobility cross country. The 275 hp diesel engine provides a good power to weight ration. The maximum speed is 80 km/h on road.
The Panzerjäger 90 replaced the M38A1 jeep with 106mm M40 recoilless rifle as the tank destroyer in Swiss service. A total of 310 vehicles were acquired, of witch 160 vehicles were rebuilt to command post and ambulance after 2006. The Panzerjäger 90 remained in service until 2017.
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