Ikv 72

Ikv 72

Sav m/43 (1944)

Ikv 72

Sav m/43 (1944)

Sweden

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.7	1.7	1.7

Class:

Tank destroyer

Research:2 900

Purchase:700

Description

The Infanterikanonvagn 72 is a rank I Swedish tank destroyer with a battle rating of 1.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.97 "Viking Fury".

General info

Survivability and armour

With a maximum frontal armour thickness of 18.5 mm, the Ikv 72 has nearly no armour to speak of. The side armour is almost negligible, and can be penetrated by even rifle-calibre machine guns at point blank ranges. Aircraft are particularly deadly, as the vehicle has an open-topped crew compartment, and what little roof armour there is is only 5 mm thick at most.

The crew compartment is very cramped, and any hit by a large shell is liable to disable multiple crew members, if not all of them, simultaneously.

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	18.5 mm (42°) Upper Glacis 12 mm (28°) Lower Glacis 12 mm (37°) Front Sides	7 mm Upper 6 mm Lower 6 mm Engine Compartment	12 mm Lower 5 mm Engine Compartment	0 mm Crew Compartment 4 mm Rear
Turret	18.5 mm (Various Angles) Gun mantlet	N/A	N/A	N/A

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	62	9	8	206	277	25.75	34.63
Realistic	57	8		128	145	16	18.13

The Ikv 72 trades armour for mobility, boasting an excellent power/weight ratio and a high top speed of around 60 km/h. This allows it to easily get to good positions where it can put its powerful gun to best use. A high reverse speed also allows it to easily back off, and is particularly valuable when fighting in hull-down positions, where it can use its excellent gun depression to its advantage.

Armaments

Main armament

The Ikv 72 is armed with the 7,5 cm kan m/41, a rather conventional quick-firing 75 mm field gun. It starts off with the unremarkable slpprj m/40 uncapped AP shot, which is adequate against most opposition it may encounter but tends to suffer ricochets against sloped armour. However, once upgraded, the gun may fire the slpgr m/39 uncapped APHE shell and the slpprj m/40B APBC shot. The former round has a very lethal 260 g TNT filler but tends to ricochet more and has less penetration, while the latter has better penetration and ricochets less, and is thus more useful in uptiers. It is recommended to carry a mixture of both APHE and APBC unless the Ikv 72 is top tier, in which case the APHE alone is sufficient.

The gun also has an outstanding ±20° of gun elevation, allowing the Ikv 72 to take advantage of hull down positions that most other tanks cannot.

75 mm Kan m/41					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	42	±20°	±10°	N/A	7.0	__._	__._	__._	__._	7.6	_._	_._	_._
Realistic					4.8	__._	__._	__._	__._

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
sgr m/40	HE	9	9	9	9	9	9
slpgr m/39	APHE	63	61	53	44	37	31
slpprj m/40	AP	85	83	74	64	55	48
slpprj m/40B	APBC	85	82	73	63	54	46

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
sgr m/40	HE	570	6.43	0.4	0.5	580	79°	80°	81°
slpgr m/39	APHE	580	6.5	1.2	9.0	260	47°	60°	65°
slpprj m/40	AP	580	6.6	N/A	N/A	N/A	47°	60°	65°
slpprj m/40B	APBC	590	6.3	N/A	N/A	N/A	48°	63°	71°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
rökgr m/22	496	6.6	13	5	20	8

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
42	37 (+5)	31 (+11)	16 (+26)	1 (+41)	No

Usage in battles

The Ikv 72 excels at fighting from hull down positions, using its outstanding 20 degrees of gun depression and high reverse speed to limit exposure when taking shots. The high reverse speed also helps in city fighting when it has to quickly retreat after taking a shot. It is fast enough to keep up with even light tanks and can use this to take up unexpected positions from which to strike at the enemy.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks		Parts	Horizontal Drive
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire	rökgr m/22
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism	slpgr m/39
IV	Transmission	Engine		slpprj m/40B

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Outstanding gun depression (-20°)
• Relatively fast rate-of-fire
• Excellent forward and reverse speeds
• Highly effective APHE shell with a large explosive filler
• Small target size, especially at long range
• Ammo is stored very safely, will get only ammoracked by artillery or by direct hits

Cons:

• Extremely vulnerable to aircraft
• Nearly no armour to speak of
• Must choose between high penetration APBC or high damage APHE
• Cramped crew compartment
• Low shell velocities inhibit use as a sniper

History

The Infanterikanonvagn 72 was a project started in 1949 by Sweden for an assault gun. The intended role of this vehicle was to support the infantry in the attack, replacing towed artillery guns. The design was to be small, and of light weight, around 6 tons. This was to reduce costs so a larger amount could be produced. The first prototype from Landsverk, completed in 1950, was armed only with three machine guns. This was insufficient, and it was re-armed with a 75 mm cannon, the same gun from the Strv m/42. It was a small, lightly armored vehicle, with a casemate superstructure housing the 75 mm gun. It had a crew of 4, and it was open topped. The Ikv 72 was later upgraded to the Ikv 102 and Ikv 103 standards, receiving an armored roof for the crew compartment, a 105 mm gun, and other improvements. The design weighed about 8 tons.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

Bibliography

• GlobalSecurity.org. (n.d.). Infanterikanonvagn 72 / 102 / 103. GlobalSecurity.org. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/europe/ikv-72.htm
• Infanterikanonvagn 72. (2020, May 14). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Infanterikanonvagn_72&oldid=956568359

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the tank;
• other literature.

Sweden tank destroyers
Strv m/41 derivatives	Spj fm/43-44 · Sav m/43 (1944) · Sav m/43 (1946) · Pvkv II · Pvkv III
Ikv 72/103	Ikv 72 · Ikv 103
Pvkv m/43	Pvkv m/43 (1946) · Pvkv m/43 (1963)
ATGM	UDES 33 · Pbv 302 (BILL) · Pvrbv 551
Other	SAV 20.12.48 · Bkan 1C
Norway	VIDAR