Type 2 Ke-To
In service 1944 - 1945
Based onType 98 Ke-Ni (derived from)
A rearmed development of the Ke-Ni with the longer 37 mm Type 1 gun, the last Japanese light tank to reach production.
Built byHino Motors
Development history
The Ke-To was a modest but sensible improvement on the Ke-Ni: the same hull and suspension, the same diesel, but a slightly enlarged turret carrying the higher-velocity 37 mm Type 1 gun. Roughly thirty were completed before material shortages ended the line. Like almost all late Japanese armour it stayed in the home islands awaiting an invasion. Its main interest is as the end point of a light tank lineage that began with the Type 95 Ha-Go a decade earlier and never escaped the weight and armament limits that the Ha-Go had already run into.