According to the latest Defense Budget Plan of Japan, the Japanese army would like to acquire 12 more Type 10 main battle tanks. Currently, the Japanese Ground Self Defence forces use three types of main battle tanks including 76 Type 10, 200 Type 74 and 341 Type 90.
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Japanese Army Type 10 main battle tank (Picture source Army Recognition)
Type 10 is considered as a fourth-generation Main Battle Tank (MBT) manufactured locally by the Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The development of the Type 10 was launched in 2002 and the first prototype was completed in 2006. The production was launched in 2010 and it entered into service with the Japanese army in 2010.
The Type 10 MBT uses the classic design of MBT’s with the driver at the front, turret in the middle and power pack at the rear. The Type 10 MBT has a crew of 3, the driver seated at the center-front, the gunner on the left side of the turret and the commander on the right side of the turret.
The main armament of the Type 10 MBT consists of a 120mm 44 caliber smooth-bore gun, which is licensed-built by Japan Steel Works and ATLA. The 120mm smooth-bore gun is fitted with a thermal sleeve, fume extractor and a muzzle reference system. The 120mm gun is fed by an automatic load located in the turret bustle. It can shoot modern 120mm ammunition and also the new third-generation APFSDS-T (Armor Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot – Tracer) round.
Type 10 is fitted with modular ceramic armour to increase protection against Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) ammunition, HEAT (High-Explosive Anti-Tank) projectiles, and anti-tank guided missiles. Thanks to the modular armour, the protection can be adapted according to the mission requirements and threats. It has a weight of 40 tones in basic configuration, 44 tones in standard configuration, and 48 tones in fully equipped.
The Type 10 MBT is powered by a water-cooled, four-stroke, and eight-cylinder diesel engines producing 1200 hp at 2,300 rpm developed by Mitsubishi coupled with an MT1200 continuously variable transmission (CVT) gearbox. The suspension consists on each side of five road wheels, drive sprocket at the rear and idler at the front. It can run at a maximum speed of 70 km/h and thanks to the CVT gearbox, it can run just as fast backward, as it does forwards, allowing rapid changes of positions. It has a maximum range of 500 km.
Japanese Army Type 74 main battle tank (Picture source Army Recognition)
Type 74 is also a main battle tank manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The first Type 74 MBT was completed in September 1975 and a total of 873 Type 74 MBTs had been built.
The Type 74 has a crew of four and looks very similar to the French AMX-30. The main armament consists of a 105 mm rifled tank gun which fires the standard range of ammunition including APDS-T (Armour-piercing discarding sabot) and HESH-T (High-explosive squash head). A 7.62 mm Type 74 machine gun is mounted coaxially with the main armament and a 12.7 mm (0.50) Browning M2 HB machine gun is pintle-mounted in the center of the turret forward of the commander's and loader's positions.
Japanese Army Type 90 main battle tank (Picture source Army Recognition)
Type 90 is the second generation of main battle tank produced locally by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It entered into service with the Japanese army in 1990.
Type 90 MBT has a conventional layout with a crew of three, with the driver's compartment at the front, turret in the center with commander and gunner and engine at the rear. The tank is fitted with modular ceramic and steel composite armor. The frontal turret armor is rated at 380 mm of effective thickness to provide protection against kinetic energy ammunition, while the upper frontal hull armor has a thickness of 320mm.
The main armament of Type 90 consists of one 120 mm Rheinmetall smoothbore gun made under license from Germany, which is fitted with a thermal sleeve, fume extractor and muzzle reference system. The gun is fed by an automatic bustle-mounted loader designed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. This is believed to hold a total of 16 rounds of ready use 120 mm ammunition of the APFSDS-T or HEAT-MP type and can be loaded from inside the Type 90 MBT or through a hatch in the turret roof.
