Svenska bandvagnen sågas: ”Går ständigt sönder”

Pansarbandvagn 302 (pbv 302), meaning roughly armoured tracked carrier vehicle 302, is a Swedish high-mobility infantry fighting vehicle (Swedish: pansarskyttefordon) used by the Swedish Army from 1966 to 2014. The vehicle was commissioned by the Swedish Army in 1961 as a modern IFV-design which could replace the recently developed pbv 301 IFV, a placeholder design based on an obsolete tank chassis which did not meet the Swedish Army's future operational requirements. Design and production was handled by Hägglund & Söner in Örnsköldsvik, whose military vehicle business is now BAE Systems Hägglunds. Production ran from 1966 to 1971, and the vehicles were upgraded and renovated multiple times throughout their service life. The design was eventually replaced by the strf 9040 IFV in the 1990s, and saw limited service alongside it until ultimately being removed from service in 2014. Armament was a modified 20 mm Hispano HS-804 cannon (Swedish: 20 mm akan m/47D) in a one man turret, and internal racks for weapons of the mechanized infantry (Swedish: pansarskytte), such as their service weapons, a ksp 58 squad machine gun and a Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle, along with ammunition. Later variants were updated with racks for AT4s and some vehicles even received a Bofors BILL man-portable anti-tank missile system. As part of the Swedish IFV-doctrine the vehicle came equipped with roof doors, allowing the mechanized infantry to fight from within the vehicles.