Type 5 75 mm Tank Gun

The Type 5 75 mm Tank Gun was used as the main armament of the Imperial Japanese Army Type 4 Chi-To prototype medium tank. It was one of the largest guns to be fitted on a World War II Japanese tank.

Design and use


The Type 5 Tank Gun had a caliber of 75 mm and barrel length of 4.23 m (L56.4). The long-barreled gun was mounted in a large, hexagonal turret of the tank. The gun could be elevated between -6.5 to +20 degrees. It had a muzzle velocity of 850 m/s and an armor penetration of 75 millimeters at a range of 1,000 meters. The gun was a variant of the Japanese Type 4 75mm AA Gun which went into production in 1943.

The Type 4 Chi-To medium tank, in which the gun was mounted, was the most powerful prototype produced for the Imperial Japanese Army. However, the material and industrial shortages faced by Japan caused production of the Type 4 Chi-To to be delayed. Plans for mass-production by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries at a rate of 25 tanks per month at two different sites could not be realized. By 1945, a total of 6 tank chassis had been built and only two were actually completed. Therefore, neither the Type 5 75 mm Tank Gun nor the Type 4 Chi-To tank were ever mass-produced prior to the end of Second World War.