Type 60 Self-Propelled Recoilless Gun
In service 1960 - 2008
A tiny tracked vehicle with two 106 mm recoilless rifles on a lifting mount, designed to ambush tanks from Japanese hillsides.
Built byKomatsu
Development history
Japan post-war constitution and mountainous terrain pushed its designers towards small, cheap, defensive anti-tank vehicles rather than battle tanks. The Type 60 carried a pair of 106 mm recoilless rifles that could be raised to fire over a crest and lowered to hide, with a crew of three and no real armour. Around 250 were built from 1960 and, remarkably, the last were only retired in 2008. It is a self-propelled recoilless gun rather than a tank and is recorded as such here.
Notable actions
- Japanese home defence; no combat