Landsverk L-30

Wheel-cum-track medium tank

Maximum speed 35 km/h (22 mph) – on tracks
75 km/h (47 mph) – on wheels

Landsverk L-30 (Swedish Army designation: stridsvagn försöksmodell 1931, abbr. strv fm/31, "tank trial model-1931") was a Swedish late interwar era medium tank constructed by AB Landsverk for the Swedish Army between 1930^[4] and 1935,^[2] featuring welded armour joints and a "wheel-cum-track system", allowing for interchangeable wheeled and tracked propulsion.^[4]

Construction

The L-30 was based on the Landsverk L-10, a conventional fully tracked tank, but added to the design by featuring deployable wheel propulsion in addition to its tracks (a so-called "wheel-cum-track system"), the idea being that wheeled and tracked propulsion could be interchanged depending on the travel surface: road/terrain. The wheel-track suspension design was quite ingenious, and wheels/tracks could be interchanged in less than a minute, even while on the move.^[4]^[5]

Beyond the wheel-track suspension, it was almost identical to the Landsverk L-10 design, featuring an advanced all-welded construction, using periscopes for visibility rather than view slits. The Landsverk L-10 design was the first tank produced to feature an all-welded construction. While the L-30 prototype was unarmed, the production design featured a turret mounted Bofors 37 mm anti-tank gun L/45 (37 mm kanon fm/32)^[3] and two Browning M1917 machine guns (6.5 mm kulspruta m/14-29), one coaxial mounted in the turret and one flexible mounted in the hull, and was equipped with 8–14 mm (0.31 in – 0.55 in) of armour.^[4]

Landsverk L-30 (strv fm/31) in tracked-mode.
Landsverk L-30 (strv fm/31) in wheeled-mode.
L-30 trials at Landsverk Landskrona, 1935.

History

Development of the L-30 started in 1930 as part of a competition set up by the Royal Swedish Army Materiel Administration (KAF) for the next generation of Swedish tanks. Landsverk competed against designs from AB Bofors (Krupp) and Morgårdshammar AB, evaluation being conducted in the fall the same year. Landsverks designs came out on top and Landsverk was selected as contractor in January 1931. After further in-depth evaluation of Landsverks designs, KAF ordered one L-30 trial vehicle from Landsverk in October 1931, along three Landsverk L-10 test vehicles.

The lone L-30 (designated stridsvagn fm/31: fm = försöksmodell, "trial model") was intended simply for mobility trials and was produced using mild steel from Landsverk, lacking the frontal hull machine gun port of the L-10 and featuring a wooden mockup turret. Production was delayed and the prototype was produced and delivered to the Swedish Army in 1935.^[4]^[2] Despite being highly advanced for its time, the design was seen as too expensive and specialized, thus in the end it was cancelled in favour of conventional tanks.^[4]

Surviving vehicles

The sole L-30 (strv fm/31) prototype has been preserved. It was exhibited at the Swedish Armour Museum in Axvall between 1969 and 2007, then on being moved to the collection of the new Swedish Tank Museum Arsenalen, where it is displayed today.

Period Landsverk armoured vehicles

Example list (incomplete)

Tracked vehicles

Landsverk L-5
Landsverk L-10
Landsverk L-30
Landsverk L-60
Landsverk L-62 Anti
Landsverk L-100
Landsverk L-101
Landsverk L-120
Landsverk Lago

Wheeled vehicles

Railroad vehicles

Landsverk L-310
Landsverk L-320
Landsverk L-321

References

^ AB Landsverk tank chart
^ ^a ^b ^c Landsverk blueprint, number S-1087 – name: Pansarförteckning (Armour List), title: Av KAFT hos Landsverk beställda pansarfordon. (Armored vehicles ordered by Armored Royal Swedish Army Ordnance Administration from Landsverk.) – date: 1945-06-20
^ ^a ^b Christer Baadstöe, Tommy Nilsson, Thorleif Olsson, Kjell Svensson and Måns Thuresson (2022). Svensk pansarhistoria: Pionjärtiden, 1918-1936. Milipress. p. 110.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Lindström, Rickard O. "Strv fm/31 och Strv m/31". ointres.se. Retrieved 2023-05-23.
^ Tank Museum, Bovington. The Tank Book.

Tank and Anti-tank guns	Bofors 37 mm Gun Model 1934 Bofors 57 mm anti-tank gun
Mountain guns	Bofors 75 mm Model 1928 Bofors 75 mm Model 1934
Field, Medium and Heavy guns	Bofors 105 mm Howitzer Model 1924 Bofors 105 mm Howitzer Model 1935 Bofors 105 mm Howitzer Model 1937 Bofors 75 mm Model 1935 Bofors 105 mm Gun Model 1927 Bofors 105 mm Gun Model 1931 Bofors 105 mm Gun Model 1934 Bofors 120 mm Howitzer Model 1914 Bofors 150 mm Howitzer Model 1931
Anti-aircraft guns	Bofors 20 mm Automatic Gun Model 40 Bofors 25 mm Automatic Gun Model 1932 Bofors 40 mm/60 Model 1936 Bofors 75 mm Gun Model 1929
Coastal guns	Bofors 105 mm Gun Model 1927 Bofors 105 mm Gun Model 1934
Naval guns	Bofors 75 mm m/12 gun Bofors 15.2 cm M/12 gun Bofors 152 mm M/39 gun Bofors 283 mm M/12 gun

Armored
Fighting
Vehicles

Light tanks	Strv m/21-29 Landsverk L-10 (Strv m/31) Landsverk L-60 Landsverk L-120
Medium tanks	Landsverk Lago (Strv m/42)
Assault guns	Stormartillerivagn m/43
Self-propelled anti-aircraft guns	Landsverk L-62
Armoured cars	Pansarbil M/31 Landsverk Lynx Landsverk L-180/L-181/L-182 Landsverk L-185
Infantry fighting vehicles	Terrängbil m/42 KP
Artillery tractors	Landsverk L-131 Landsverk L-132 Landsverk L-135
Prototypes	Landsverk L-5 Landsverk L-100 Landsverk L-101

v t e Tanks of the interwar period
Tankettes	AH-IV Carden Loyd L3/33 L3/35 R-1 T-27 T-32 (Š-I-D) Tančík vz. 33 TKS Type 92 Type 94 Type 97 Te-Ke
Light	7TP 38M Toldi I Char D1 Disston Tractor Tank Fiat 3000 H35 L-60 Light tanks Mk I–V Light Tank Mk VI Light Tank Mk VII LT vz. 34 LT vz. 35 LT vz. 38 M1 combat car M2 Light Tank Panzer I Panzer II R35 T-18 T-26 T-37 T-38 Type 95 Ha-Go Vickers 6-Ton Vickers-Carden-Loyd light amphibious tank Vickers T-15
Medium	Char D2 T-24 T-28 Type 89 I-Go Type 97 Chi-Ha Vickers Medium Mk I Vickers Medium Mk II
Cavalry, cruiser, fast	AMC 34 AMC 35 AMR 33 AMR 35 BT tank Cruiser Mk I Cruiser Mk II Cruiser Mk III SOMUA S35
Infantry	FCM 36 Hotchkiss H35 Matilda I T-26
Heavy, super-heavy	Char 2C Char B1 T-35
Prototypes, experimentals	10TP FCM F1 Grosstraktor Kolohousenka Landsverk L-120 Leichttraktor Medium Mark III Medium Mark D Medium Tank A7 Morris-Martel Neubaufahrzeug PZInż 130 Škoda MU-4 SMK Straussler V-4 Stridsvagn m/31 ST vz. 39 T1 Light Tank T2 Medium T7 Combat Car T-19 T-42 T-100 Type 87 Chi-I Type 91 heavy Type 95 heavy Type 97 Chi-Ni Type 98 Chi-Ho Verdeja Vickers A1E1 Independent
Interwar period tanks List of interwar armoured fighting vehicles Background: History of the tank, Tank classification, interwar period