japan
Komatsu/Nissan Type 75 MRL
Notes:
This Japanese vehicle is a multiple rocket launcher based on the chassis
of the Type 73 armored personnel carrier.
The modifications to the Type 73 were done specifically to carry the
130mm MRL developed by the Aerospace Division of Nissan. The Type 75 has been
steadily replaced by the US M270 MRLS and HIMARS (both of which they produce in
Japan under license); it is doubtful that there are any Type 75s in service any
more, though by 2008 20 were still in service, and it is possible that 15 Type
75 weather stations (a variant of the MRL) are still in service.
Most Type 75 MRLs are now in museums or used as range targets.
In this role,
the passenger compartment is largely taken up by the launcher and mechanism and
space for the crew. It has a crew
of three who sit in the front of the vehicle behind the glacis. The driver is on
the front left, the commander on the front right, and the gunner behind the
commander. The driver can replace
his center vision block with an IR block. In front of the commander’s hatch is a
pintle-mounted machinegun (usually an M2HB), though it can mount any weapon
which will fit on a NATO tripod. The bow machinegun of the Type 73 APC is
deleted for the Type 75, and the port plated over.
The three firing ports on the sides and the one in the rear door are also
plated over, though the rear door and ramp are retained, and used when the
rocket pack is reloaded. On either side of the glacis are banks of three smoke
grenade dischargers. The Type 75
has a vehicular collective NBC system.
The 130mm
rockets are fired from a 30-round pack; the entire 30 rounds can be fired in a
12-second ripple, and single shots and 5-round, 10-round, and 20-round ripples
can also be fired. The rockets have
a huge, though inefficient, 15-kilogram warhead; they have no more effect than
most other 130mm rockets. Range is also a bit short. (Note that the actual
caliber of the rockets is not 130mm – it is 131.5mm.)
The short range is partially because of the limited elevation of the
rocket pack – zero to 50 degrees.
This would seem to indicate that direct fire is possible, but this is NOT
recommended, due to the possibility of injuring the crew, and a minimum of 2
degrees of depression is generally followed. Traverse of 50 degrees in either
direction from the front is also available.
The Type 75 has a rudimentary computer firing system which helps increase
its accuracy. An entire rocket launcher can be reloaded by three men in 15
minutes, but there is no provision for reloading a rocket pack as a unit or
reloading them with automatic machinery. Reloads are carried in vehicles that
look very much like the Type 75 MRL (the rockets are carried in a box atop the
vehicle that looks similar to the rocket pack of the MRL).
The hull is of
all-welded aluminum, and the vehicle is powered by a 300-horsepower
turbo/supercharged engine for operation in Japan’s tall mountains. Unlike most
APC-derived vehicles, the engine is actually in the center of the vehicle,
though the transmission (manual) is in the front.
Suspension is by torsion bars.
Like the Type 73 APC, the Type 75 is amphibious, propelled in the water
by track action. The Type
73/75-based vehicle family is quite mobile and agile for vehicles of their time
period – but this is a result of light weight, a mark of their weak armor.
Type 75 Weather Vehicle
The Type 75 MRL
is normally accompanied by the Type 75 weather-measuring vehicle mentioned above
that calculates the effect of local weather and wind on the rockets' flight and
relays that information to the firing vehicle.
(It is also used today with artillery brigades and for general weather
forecasting.). The Type 75 Weather vehicle has a large box on top of the vehicle
that looks like the rocket pack of the Type 75 MRL, but it contains instruments
such as wind -velocity-measurement gear, and instruments to measure barometric
pressure, snow and rain conditions, air composition at the vehicle, IR devices
to see through fog and inclement weather, and instruments to extrapolate weather
measurements up to 15 kilometers away.
The crew arrangement is similar to that of the Type 75 MRL, but the
launcher control board is replaced with a larger instrument-monitoring center.
Though the Type 75 Weather vehicle looks similar to the Type 75 MRL from
the outside and has similar stats, the Type 75 Weather vehicle may be identified
by the multiple weather instruments and vision devices atop the deck box.
Type 75 Reload Vehicle
Though reloads
for the Type 75 MRL are often carried in trucks, a dedicated armored reload
vehicle was also made, and is similarly out of service by now. It also looks
similar to the Type 75 MRL, but the deck box is a simple rack for rockets.
The box moves aft and tips to allow the reload crew to access the
rockets, which are then carried manually to the MRL and loaded into the
launcher’s tubes. This vehicle was
generally used in high-threat environments where trucks would be very vulnerable
to enemy fire. The Type 75 Reload Vehicle otherwise has stats similar to that of
the Type 75 MRL, but the third crewmember is primarily simply a reloader along
with the rest of the crew and has no special equipment other than a register of
what types of rockets the vehicle is carrying.
Vehicle |
Price |
Fuel Type |
Load |
Veh Wt |
Crew |
Mnt |
Night Vision |
Radiological |
Type 75 MRL |
$181,677 |
D, A |
446 kg |
14.4 tons |
3 |
13 |
Passive IR (D) |
Shielded |
Type 75 Weather Vehicle |
$1,761,818 |
D, A |
317 kg |
13.41 tons |
3 |
17 |
Passive IR (D, WT), Image Intensification (WT), Long-Range TV Camera
(WT) |
Shielded |
Type 75 Reload Vehicle |
$157,618 |
D, A |
278 kg |
13.35 tons |
3 |
11 |
Passive IR (D) |
Shielded |
Vehicle |
Tr Mov |
Com Mov |
Fuel Cap |
Fuel Cons |
Config |
Susp |
Armor |
Type 75 MRL |
147/103 |
41/29/4 |
450 |
111 |
Stnd |
T2 |
TF2 TS3
TR2 HF6
HS4 HR4 |
Type 75 Weather Vehicle |
158/109 |
43/30/4 |
450 |
111 |
Stnd |
T2 |
TF3 TS3
TR3 HF6
HS4 HR4 |
Type 75 Reload Vehicle |
158/109 |
43/30/4 |
450 |
111 |
Stnd |
T2 |
TF2 TS3
TR2 HF6
HS4 HR4 |
Vehicle |
Fire Control |
Stabilization |
Armament |
Ammunition |
Type 75 MRL |
+2 |
None |
30-round 130mm Rocket Launcher,,M2HB (C) |
30x130mm Rockets, 1300x.50 |
Type 75 Weather Vehicle |
None |
None |
M2HB (C) |
1300x.50 |
Type 75 Reload Vehicle |
None |
None |
30-round 130mm Reload Pack, M2HB (C) |
30x130mm Rockets, 1300x.50 |