Type 61

Type 61 History

After World War II, Imperial Japan was rightfully deprived of all warfare capabilities, including the heavy weapons industry. Although Japanese tanks proved far from being effective in World War II, all Japanese facilities were scrutinized and exempted from producing war-related products for land, air or sea use.

As a result, there was essentially no tank development in the postwar years until the start of the Korean War, which was only a few years old.

With the outbreak of the Korean Peninsula War, the ruling Supreme Allies, which oversaw Japan's reconstruction and containment, allowed limited military development that eventually became the basis for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to be commissioned. To fill the void, the Allies introduced American-made World War II-era M24 Chaffee light tanks and M4A3E8 Sherman medium tanks. While the M24 was perfect for Japan's size, it turned out that its main gun armament was inferior to anything it faced had the Korean War originated on the peninsula. Instead, the M4 Sherman offers a more powerful alternative, however, it is technically at the end of its usefulness.

To make matters worse, the Sherman was simply too much room for the Japanese, as their diminutive Army soldiers didn't reach the control pedals at a comfortable angle like their American tank brethren. Consequently, the Japanese avoided purchasing any other newly available American armor systems and were allowed to seek domestic replacements that would meet the needs of the Japanese nation until the very last detail.

Development of this new main battle tank began in 1955 and was designed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The approach focuses on a relatively lightweight system that can be transported by rail to designated hotspots.

This presents a certain challenge to providing a capable main battle tank system that provides adequate armor at the expense of weight, which itself must be below a certain value for the system to be fully transportable as planned. While a 25-ton limit was originally envisioned, the reality is that the new tank will be closer to 35 tons. A 90mm main gun was selected as the weapon.

The entire armor system was designed and developed around the body of a Japanese soldier at the time.

Prototypes were completed soon at the end of 1956 and continued for the remainder of the decade. The original system appeared as STA-1, followed by STA-2. This was followed by the STA-3 and STA-4 - the latter later representing the production tank model. Since it was already 1961, the name of the new tank was only for its first year of service.

This led to the tank being called the "Type 61". In the following years, production started and slowly increased. It was eventually produced from 1961 to 1975, and a total of 560 copies appeared.

Externally, the Model 61 retains its traditional look with angled glacis panels on a welded steel hull and round cast steel turret. The armor is 64 mm thick at its thickest point and the vehicle weighs 35 tons. Suspension is achieved by a torsion bar system and six rubber wheels on one side of the track, enabling speeds of up to 45 kilometers per hour on paved roads.

The turret was at the center of the design and housed three of the four crew members. Those on the turret included the tank commander, gunner and loader, while the driver found his home in the front right of the hull.

The main armament is centered on the Type 61 rifled 90mm gun with integral muzzle brake. This was complemented by an M2 Browning 12.7mm anti-aircraft heavy machine gun mounted on the Commander's cupola. A coaxial 7.62mm Browning M1919A4 infantry machine gun was placed in the turret next to the main gun.

Smoke grenade launchers are provided, three on each side of the turret.

Power comes from a Mitsubishi-brand HM21 WT V12 turbo diesel engine mounted in the rear of the fuselage and mated to a Mitsubishi-brand manually controlled transmission. After this arrangement, the range is about 200 kilometers.

The Type 61 wasn't even designed to be long-range amphibious, nor did it offer any protection from nuclear, biological or chemical threats, so its tactical use -- especially given the turmoil of the early Cold War -- was limited in that regard.

The Type 61 was in service for almost 40 years and was officially phased out in 2000. Each of the past years has resulted in a significant reduction in the total number of 61s. This system was replaced by its successor, the Type 74 main battle tank, which entered service in 1975 - another MHI product.

Other variants derived from the Type 61 chassis are the Type 67 Armored Vehicle Launch Bridge and the Type 70 Armoured Rescue Vehicle.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

Armor

Not available.

Changes