A turretless superlight tankette design employing 3 top mounted recoilless rifles. Intended to be used in a guerilla-style anti-tank role, and transportable to smaller islands in the pacific using small ships and aircraft. The tankette was designed with the jungle that dominates the Phillipines and Indonesia in mind.
Many were captured by US forces as they advanced through the Pacific, and the design served as inspiration for the M50 Ontos a decade later.
To keep the weight low, the side and rear armour was only designed to withstand machine gun fire, while the front was thicker at 76mm and heavily sloped. The two man crew entered through a hatch door at the back, and could only look through the cuppolas on top of the vehicle.
The rifles could be traversed using levers by the gunner. Horizontal traverse was limited at 32 degrees but the high mounting of the rifles meant that it could be angled heavily: from -17 degrees to 35 degrees.
In order to reload the guns, the gunner had to exit the vehicle, but given the small bore size, the vehicle had a generous ammo carrying capacity of 36 rounds.
3x Type 3 recoilless rifle 84mm (~ 3x16kg) - Reload time: 4.5s per rifle, can be partially reloaded, but only reloads while in siege mode (walking pace driving speed, as the gunner needs to exit and load the guns from behind the vehicle) - Interclip reload time: 0.5s - Damage: 250 AP, 250 HESH, 390 HE - Penetration: 120mm AP, 180mm HESH, 30mm HE - 0.34 accuracy but high dispersion on the move due to the high mounting on steel bars, meaning it needs to be fired fairly close, or from a position of cover using excellent cammo values.
Type 3 Ho-Ho hull: - 76mm of frontal armour, heavily sloped at 40 degrees - 28mm side and rear armour, slighlty sloped near the top
Mitsubishi Type 100 21.7 L V-12 diesel engine: - 240 hp - Top speed: 74km/h - Reverse: 22km/h
Extra notes: - Excellent cammo values due to small size, but poor viewing range. - Much better view range in siege mode. - Armour decent in the front due to sloping, but can be overmatched by many guns. - Front mounted engine means it is easily damaged when shot. - Total weight around 9 tonnes, P/W of 26.66. - US captured variant in winter cammo and with a reindeer & sled emblem on the back, as well as the text "Ho Ho!" as a special offering during the holidays.
(sketch to be added later)