The was a prototype light tank developed by 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 ...

at 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 opposing ...

History and development

In 1938, development began for a new light tank for the Japanese Army. While the Type 95 Ha-Go had performed well against the National Revolutionary Army of the China in the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

and successfully engaged

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M3 Stuart light tanks on the Bataan Peninsula in December 1941, 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 The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

prior to 1941, was not designed to fight enemy tanks, but rather to support the infantry. The Type 95's light armor made it vulnerable to .50 caliber machine gun fire and attempts to address these shortcomings via the Type 98 Ke-Ni and

Type 2 Ke-To The was a light tank of World War II, produced in small numbers for the Imperial Japanese Army as an improvement of the existing Type 98 Ke-Ni. No Type 2 Ke-To light tanks are known to have engaged in combat prior to Japan's surrender at the end ...

were steps in the right direction, but were still insufficient. 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 The , also called the Army General Staff, was one of the two principal agencies charged with overseeing the Imperial Japanese Army. Role The was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry, to replace the Ministry of Military Affairs ...

had to concede to the Imperial Navy's needs of raw materials necessary for the production of

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and

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s. 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 Air raids conducted by Allied forces on Japan during World War II caused extensive destruction to the country's cities and killed between 241,000 and 900,000 people. During the first years of the Pacific War these attacks were limited to the ...

. Only a single prototype was completed by the Hino Jido Sha company by the end of World War II.

Design

Armor

The Type 5 Ke-Ho had armor of up to 20 mm, and a Type 1 47 mm main gun, an improvement over existing Japanese light tanks. The tank weighed 10 tons due to increased armor thickness and a bigger engine. The two-man turret layout drew on previous design experience from the Type 1 Chi-He.

Mobility

The tank was powered by a Type 100 air cooled diesel engine yielding 150 HP, for a top speed of 50 km/h. Details about the engine design still remains unknown. One theory indicates it was an improved version of the Chiyoda EC engine manufactured by Tokyo Gas and Electronics Industry in 1937. The tank also had a fuel tank capacity of 130 L.九五式軽戦車ハ号
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History and development

Design

Armor

Mobility

Notes

References

External links