Why a 70-Year-Old Gun Was Too Advanced: The Artillery Gun That Couldn’t Keep Up With Its Time

Sweden’s Bandkanon 1
A Masterpiece Beyond Its Time
Too Ahead of Its Time Led to Its Downfall

There’s a saying that a hero is made by his time. This proverb means that someone with exceptional abilities can become a great hero if they meet the right era. At the same time, it implies that no matter how talented one is, they cannot become a hero if they do not fit in with their time. This applies to weapons as well.

Sweden’s Bofors Company’s Bandkanon 1 had an incredible performance that was hard to believe was developed in the 1950s. Still, it was a failed weapon because some of its capabilities were too ahead of its time. Let’s take a closer look at this.

A Neutrality Country’s Invention
Still Holds the Best Firepower

Europe is a region where many countries have experienced several large-scale wars. During the Cold War, Sweden needed a strong military force to survive in such a Europe, especially a way to counter long-range power like the Soviet Union’s multiple rocket launchers. The result was the self-propelled gun, Bandkanon 1, with excellent firepower.

Bandkanon had a system where seven rounds were automatically loaded with two clips, so it only took 45 seconds to fire 14 rounds. Considering that the current world’s strongest self-propelled gun, Rheinmetall’s PzH2000, fires eight rounds per minute, this is still an extraordinary level. It also only takes two minutes to reload and uses a hydraulic recoil mechanism, which shows excellent performance even by today’s standards.

Too Ahead of Its Time
Rumors of Nuclear Weapon Mounting

However, the technology of the time was not perfect to handle such outstanding performance. The chassis had many drawbacks despite the excellent firepower. The superb gun performance led to a world-record weight of 50 tons (about 110,231 pounds), and the engine could not exceed 600 horsepower, resulting in a highway speed of only 28 km/h (about 17.4 mph). Because it was more expensive than other self-propelled guns, the artillery system was changed to the FH77 towed howitzer system.

As an aside, in the 1950s, when Sweden began developing nuclear weapons, there were rumors that they considered making them in shell form to be used with the Bandkanon 1. However, it was confirmed that Sweden intended to use tactical nuclear weapons in the form of aerial bombs dropped by bombers, proving the rumor untrue.