RE Swedish OOB

[Palle]

It is Sweden, the most politically correct and overprotective state in the world. The Socialist Utopia was never realised in the communists states, but Sweden is getting there.


Edited to add; I do NOT hate Swedes, I have many Swedish friends from Viking Re-enacting. Nor is this post supposed to demean Sweden or Swedes in any way, but it is a bit funny.

[Marcello]

They seem common sense modifications. They get rid of the Sagger launcher, useless by now for all practical purposes, and get rid of some crap. No point in breathing asbestos if there is some replacement around.

[wulfir]

Originally Posted by Palle

It is Sweden...

Pansarbandvagn 501 (BMP-1) was bought to give infantry brigades some armoured protection and was a replacement to the Bandvagn 206/Tgb type trucks previously used.

They were intended to be used in the Arctic Brigades but then someone noticed the narrow tracks of the BMP-1 did not work very well in deep snow - so the Pansarbandvagn 401 (MTLB) was sent north and the Pbv 501 was supposed to be used in the southern part of the country, where snow depths are usually not that great. Amazing how this could not have been known, given that the Finns had much experience with BMPs and the fact that Soviet Mot Rifle Division (type) North used MTLB and not BMP.

Field trials were held and the fleet of Pbv 501 were upgraded, but only a handful were ever used by actual units, because those brigades that were meant to be turned into mech were disbanded.
Most Pbv 501 went straight into storage, spent a couple of years there and were then scraped, or sold off. A few can be found in AFV museums.