Type 5 Ke-Ho
| Type 5 Ke-Ho | |
|---|---|
|
Type 5 Ke-Ho light tank | |
| Type | Light tank |
| Place of origin | Empire of Japan |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1942 |
| Produced | 1945 |
| Number built | 1 (prototype) |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 10 tons |
| Length | 4.38 meters |
| Width | 2.23 meters |
| Height | 2.23 meters |
| Crew | 4 |
|
| |
| Armor | 8-20 mm |
Main armament | Type 1 47mm tank gun II |
Secondary armament | Type 97 7.7mm machine gun |
| Engine |
straight six-cylinders supercharged air cooled diesel 150 HP |
| Suspension | Bell crank |
| Speed | 50 km/h |
The Type 5 light tank Ke-Ho (五式軽戦車 ケホ Go-shiki keisensha Keho) was a prototype light tank developed by the Imperial Japanese Army at the end of World War II.
History and development
In 1938, development began for a new light tank for the Japanese army.[1] While the Type 95 Ha-Go had performed well against the National Revolutionary Army of the China in the Second Sino-Japanese War and successfully engaged United States M3 Stuart light tanks on the Bataan Peninsula in December 1941,[2] it was quickly growing obsolete. Although its 37mm gun was adequate for most light armor designed and built in the 1930s, the Ha-Go, like the tanks of the US Army prior to 1941, was not designed to fight enemy tanks, but rather to support the infantry.[3] The Type 95's light armor made it vulnerable to .50 caliber machine gun fire[1] and attempts to address these shortcomings via the Type 98 Ke-Ni and the Type 2 Ke-To were steps in the right direction, but were still insufficient.[4] Therefore, a complete design review was held and a prototype for a new standard light tank was completed by 1942. At this point the project was shelved, as the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff had to concede to the Imperial Navy's needs of raw materials necessary for the production of warships and warplanes. Mass production was finally authorized in 1945, by which time it was too late. Production was impossible due to shortages of materials such as steel, and the bombing of Japan.[5] Only a single prototype was completed by the end of World War II.
Design
The Type 5 Ke-Ho had armor of up to 20 mm, and a Type 1 47 mm main gun II, an improvement over existing Japanese light tanks. It was powered by an air cooled diesel engine yielding 150 HP, for a top speed of 50 km/h.
Planned variant
- 75 mm SPG Ku-Se
- A self-propelled gun (SPG) with 75 mm Cannon in a Type 5 Ke-Ho chassis. The turret was to be removed, and a Type 99 mountain gun placed in the hull similar to Ho-Ni/Ho-Ro SPGs.
Footnotes
- 1 2 Zaloga 2007, p. 18.
- ↑ Hunnicutt (Stuart) p. 395
- ↑ Zaloga (Armored Thunderbolt) p. 18
- ↑ Foss, The Great Book of Tanks
- ↑ Zaloga 2007, pp. 15, 22.
References
- Foss, Christopher (2003). Great Book of Tanks: The World's Most Important Tanks from World War I to the Present Day. Zenith Press. ISBN 0-7603-1475-6.
- Zaloga, Steven J. (2007). Japanese Tanks 1939–45. Osprey. ISBN 978-1-8460-3091-8.
External links
.svg.png){kind=small} Japanese armored fighting vehicles of World War II | |
|---|---|
| Tankettes | |
| Light tanks | |
| Medium tanks | |
| Amphibious tanks | |
| Self-propelled artillery (including tank destroyers) | |
| Armored cars | |
| Other | |
| Prototypes | |