Japanese Experimental Anti-tank Weapons.

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Robert Hurst
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Japanese Experimental Anti-tank Weapons.

#1

Post by Robert Hurst » 05 Apr 2005, 12:09

Hi

A while ago I came across two experimental Japanese anti-tank weapons that I had never even thought existed. The two weapons concerned, see attached pics were the 45 mm Type 5 Recoilless gun and the 70 mm Type 4 Rocket launcher. The two pics and technical data have been put onto this post with the kind permission of creator of the Imperial Japanese Army Site.

Both of these weapons as well as many other pics of Imperial Japanese Army Equipment can be found on the Taki Homepage. The best and easiest way of finding this page is to go onto Google.com and type Imperial Japanese Army, then scroll down to and click on Taki. When the language pack installation sign comes on click on cancel. This procedure must be carried out every time you want to see any of the various equipment pics.

Technical Details

45 mm Type 5 Recoilless Gun

Calibre: 45 mm (1.77 in)
Length: 1 m (39.37 in)
Weight: 6.4 kg (14.01 lb)
Shell weight: 2.3 kg (5.07 lb)
Muzzle Velocity: 40 m/sec (131.23 ft/sec)
Armour penetration: 100 mm (3.9 in)
Range: 30 m (33 yds)

70 mm Type 4 Rocket Launcher

Calibre: 70 mm (2.75 in)
Length: 1.5 m (59.05 in)
Weight: 8 kg (18 lb)
Shlee weight: 4.08 kg (9 lb)
Armour penetration: 80 mm (3.14 in)
Range: 750 m (820 yds)
Attachments
type 4.jpg
Shown here is the 70 mm Type 4 rocket launcher.
type 4.jpg (10.8 KiB) Viewed 7756 times
type 5.jpg
Shown here is the 45 mm Type 5 Recoilless Gun.
type 5.jpg (10.33 KiB) Viewed 7760 times

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MAX_theHitMan
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#2

Post by MAX_theHitMan » 05 Apr 2005, 12:43

Thanks for that information friend 8)


http://www3.plala.or.jp/takihome/


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tom!
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#3

Post by tom! » 05 Apr 2005, 14:20

Hi.

I have some different sorces mentioning that a total of 3300 type 4 70 mm rocket launchers were produced, delivered and used, mainly by divisions deployed on Honshu and Kyushu.


In early 1943 the japanese navy was able to capture some 60 mm Bazookas from the US and in the summer some "Panzerschreck" at-launchers reached Japan, too. The army immediately started the development of such a weapon. The firing mechanism was copied from the bazooka.
Main problem was the development of the ammunition. In July 1944 the testing was complete and the weapon was introduced.
Image


The type 4 rocket launcher could be dismounted in two pieces to minimize the necessary transport volume.
Image

The rocket grenade had a caliber of 72 mm and a length of 359 mm and a charge of 700 g powder. The grenade was propelled by 260 g powder which lead to a muzzle veliocity of 160 m/s within 0,4 seconds burntime.

The maximum range was 750 to 800 m. To aim the impact fuze a minimum range of 30 m was needed. The effective range was 100 m. Within this range the accuracy was 60 %. The penetration was 80 mm from 60° to 90°.

There was also a handling manual:
Image

Image

Image



There were also experiments with a 100 mm recoilless gun. Sadly I don´t have details for this weapon.

Image



And some more experimental at-weapons:

experimental 57 mm at-gun:

Image

After getting first reports of the 47 mm type 1 AT-gun being insufficient experiments on a larger version of these weapon began. Goal was also the development of a new 57 mm tank gun for a new medium tank. The caliber of 57 mm was chosen because of the testings of british 6 pdr at-guns captured in Burma which were found very effective but too heavy.

The gun had to be light because of the standart infanty tactics which included men-transportable at-weapons. The first test guns had massive problems with the large recoil. The whole lafette had to be strengthened. Due to the weight limit this was a problem. In late 1942 a last gun was built and tested excessively. The gun had the incceptable weight of 1,5 t and due to the recoil-imitations he penetration abilities were only 60 mm at 100 m. These problems lead to the decision to cancel all at-gun projects in 1943 and to concentrate on tank hunters instead.


experimental 90 mm rocket launcher:

Image

The penetration of the 70 mm type 4 rocket laucher was not enough against the frontal armour of a M4 Sherman and so in the late development phase of the 70 mm version an enlarged version with 90 mm caliber was tested. Different barrel lengths were tested and in late 1944 a test version with a 1500 mm barrel was built. In spring 1945 the 1500 mm version and a 1200 mm version for paratroops was accepted and should be produced. Due to the massive lack of raw materials no serial production started.

The rocket launcher had a weight of 12 kg and could also be transported in two pieces. The 8,6 kg heavy grenade had a charge of 1,6 kg and a propellant of 620 g Powder. The penetration was 120 mm on 100 m with a muzzle velocity of 106 m/s



Yours

tom! :wink:

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Kurt_Steiner
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#4

Post by Kurt_Steiner » 12 Apr 2005, 10:28

Where those "bazookas" ever used in combat?

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MAX_theHitMan
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#5

Post by MAX_theHitMan » 12 Apr 2005, 12:54

Most interesting post Tom!

Thanks for that information.

Seems that the Japanese were well advanced in their own research into these type of weapons during the war years contrary to some Allied reports denying it

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tom!
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#6

Post by tom! » 12 Apr 2005, 14:32

Hi.
Kurt_Steiner wrote:Where those "bazookas" ever used in combat?
No.

Type 4 was only deployed on the japanese main islands, type 5 was not produced due to lack of materials.

Yours

tom! :wink:

383-runner
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Re: Japanese Experimental Anti-tank Weapons.

#7

Post by 383-runner » 25 Nov 2009, 08:32

I was lucky enough to (find) and purchase :D a demilled WWII Japanese Type 4 Rocket Launcher early this year. Will try to post pictures soon.

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Dagger Addict
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Re: Japanese Experimental Anti-tank Weapons.

#8

Post by Dagger Addict » 06 Sep 2010, 17:39

This is a great topic.If anyone has one for sale I would love to add one to my collection.

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