The Type 98 20 mm AA machine cannon was the most common light

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

. It entered service in 1938 and was used until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After World War II this gun was used by the

Indonesian Army The Indonesian Army ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Darat (TNI-AD), ) is the land branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It has an estimated strength of 300,000 active personnel. The history of the Indonesian Army has its ...

in the

Indonesian National Revolution The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during Aftermath of WWII, postw ...

and

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

Design and use

The Type 98 20 mm AA machine cannon was the most common light

of the Japanese military. The Type 98 designation was given to this gun as it was accepted in the year 2598 of the Japanese calendar (1938).War Department TM-E-30-480 ''Handbook on Japanese Military Forces''. September 1944, p. 400. It entered service that same year and first saw combat in

Nomonhan Nomonhan is a small village in Inner Mongolia, China, south of the city of Manzhouli and near the China–Mongolia border. In the summer of 1939, it was the location of the Nomonhan Incident, as it is known in Japan, or the Battle of Khalkhin G ...

. It was used until the end of

. About 80% of the Imperial Japanese Army light AA guns were Type 98s. The gun could be emplaced in about three minutes by an experienced crew or fired inaccurately from its wheels. This weapon and its variants were based on the French design of the 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine gun of the 1930s, which the Japanese forces had bought and further developed at home. The Type 98 was also one of the two armament options for the IJA's Submersible Gun Mount Model 1.

Ammunition

*Type 100 armour piercing tracer. Weight 162 g projectile and 431 g complete round. *Type 100 high-explosive tracer (with self-destruct). Weight 136 g projectile and 405 g complete round with 890 m/s.

Variant

Two of the guns mounted together formed a variant known as the

Type 4 20 mm twin AA machine cannon Type 4 20 mm twin AA machine cannon was an Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) anti-aircraft gun. It consisted of two Type 98 20 mm AA machine cannon. It was introduced in 1944 and approximately 500 guns were produced. The Type 98 20 mm AA ...

. Approximately 500 of these guns were produced.Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: Type 4 20 mm twin AA Machine Cannon
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* War Department TM-E-30-480 ''Handbook on Japanese Military Forces''. September 1944.
US Army field manual at hyperwar.org

Intelligence briefing at lonesentry.com
* ''Japanese Artillery Weapons and Tactics'', Donald B. McLean, * Ogata Katsuichi technological general manager of army "Matter of 13mm "Hotchkiss-type" anti-aircraft gun semi-adopted types enactment" 1934 Japan Center for Asian Historical Record Ref.C01001317200 * Army technological headquarters "Examination report of type 98 anti-aircraft gun and dummy cartridge" 1940 Japan Center for Asian Historical Record Ref.A03032139400

External links

* ttp://www3.plala.or.jp/takihome/aa.htm#4 Taki's Imperial Japanese Army Page: Type 4 20 mm twin AA Machine Cannon - Akira Takizawa
"Type 100" AP and HE-T rounds at inert-ord.net
{{Imperial Japanese Army artillery Artillery of Japan World War II anti-aircraft guns Anti-aircraft guns of Japan World War II weapons of Japan 20 mm artillery Autocannon Military equipment introduced in the 1930s