Type 98 (20 mm)

This page is about the Japanese cannon Type 98 (20 mm). For other uses, see Type 98 (Disambiguation).

Description

The Type 98 20 mm AA machine cannon (九八式二十粍高射機関砲) was one of the anti-aircraft autocannon of IJA during the the 2nd Sino-Japanese War and the upcoming Pacific War. By 1920s, IJA soon realized for the necessity of higher-caliber AA guns above 13 mm caliber; the result of this program was the Type 92 13 mm AA gun which eventually developed into the Type 92 Hotchkiss 13 mm AA gun based on French Hotchkiss machine gun. Parts of the efforts on the Type 92 was then reused, notably the tripod mount for the machine gun for the new 20 mm autocannon program designed to shoot down more advanced aircrafts by 1930s; eventually led to the development of Type 98 in 1938 for IJA.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

Ground vehicles:

• Type 94
• So-Ki
• Ta-Se

Naval vessels:

• Type 4 (mod. 2)
• Type 4 (Mod 4)
• Ha-Go (mod. 1)
• Type 5

General info

Overall weight	373 kg
Caliber	20x124 mm
Vertical limits	-10°/85° (vary by vehicle)
Magazine	20 rounds

Available ammunition

Ground vehiclesHEFI-T

• Default: API-T · HEFI-T ·
• Type 100 AP-T: API-T
• Type 100 HE-T: HEFI-T

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
HEFI-T	6	5	4	3	2	2
API-T	48	45	35	26	19	14

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
						0%	50%	100%
HEFI-T	950	0.13	0.04	0.1	6	79°	80°	81°
API-T	928	0.16	-	-	-	47°	60°	65°

Naval vessels

• Universal: HEF-T · AP-T · HEF-T · AP-T
• 20 mm HET magazines: HEF-T · HEF-T · HEF-T · AP-T
• 20 mm APT magazines: AP-T · AP-T · AP-T · HEF-T

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
HEF-T	2	2	2	2	2	2
AP-T	41	38	28	19	13	9

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
						0%	50%	100%
HEF-T	950	0.13	0	0.1	6.17	79°	80°	81°
AP-T	928	0.13	-	-	-	47°	60°	65°

Comparison with analogues

Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns that have firepower equal to this weapon.

Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

Pros:

• High penetration for its caliber even without HVAP
• Generous ammo pool for vehicles/vessels equipped with this weapon
• Fast reload time per magazine

Cons:

• 20 shells per magazine needs careful pre-planning for most efficient take-downs

History

While the Imperial Japanese military often looked to Great Britain and Germany for inspiration and licenses for weapons prior to World War I, the Treaty of Versailles forbidding the further existence of a domestic arms industry in Germany caused Japan to look to France instead for small arms and artillery. The 13.2mm Hotchkiss Mle. 1930 was built under license and adopted by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1933 as the Type 93 in the anti-aircraft role and the Type Ho 13 mm by the Imperial Japanese Army. Further development of the Type 93 created the Type 98 20 mm AA machine gun, a scaled-up model that became the main anti-aircraft gun of the IJA during World War II. First seeing combat during the Soviet-Japanese border skirmishes in the late 1930s, the Type 98 was adopted in the year 2598 on the Japanese calendar (1938 using the Western Gregorian calendar).

The Type 98 made up about 80% of the IJA's anti-aircraft gun inventory and was the gun used for their self-propelled anti-aircraft designs such as the Isuzu Type 94 AA machine cannon carrier truck, the Type 98 AA half-track, and the Type 98 Ta-Se and So-Ki designs based on the Type 98 Ke-Ni light tank. The Imperial Japanese Army's coastal forces also used the Type 98 on their Motor Torpedo Boats.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

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• reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.

Japan naval cannons
20 mm	JM61 · Type 98
25 mm	25 mm/60 Type 96
37 mm	Type 4 · Type 11 pattern 1922
40 mm	40 mm/62 Vickers
57 mm	Type 97
75 mm	Type 88 AA
76 mm	3-inch/40 Type 41 · 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type · 8 cm/60 Type 98
100 mm	100/65 mm Type 98 mod A
120 mm	120 mm/45 3rd Year Type · 120 mm/45 10th year type
127 mm	5 inch/40 Type 89 · 127 mm/50 3rd Year Type
140 mm	140 mm/50 3rd Year Type
152 mm	6-inch/45 Type 41 · 15 cm/50 Type 41
155 mm	155 mm/60 3rd Year Type
200 mm	20 cm 3rd year type No.1
203 mm	20 cm/45 Type 41 · 20 cm/50 3rd year type No.2
356 mm	36 cm/45 Type 41
410 mm	410 mm/45 Type 3
	Foreign:
20 mm	20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II (USA/Britain)
40 mm	Bofors L/60 Mark 1 (USA) · Bofors L/60 Mark 2 (USA) · Bofors L/60 Mark 3 (USA)
47 mm	3 pdr QF Hotchkiss (Britain)
76 mm	3-inch Mark 10 (USA) · 3 inch Mk.33 (USA) · 3-inch Mk.34 (USA)
120 mm	4,7-inch/40 Armstrong (Britain)
127 mm	5 inch/38 Mk.12 (USA)
305 mm	12-inch/45 Vickers (Britain) · 12-inch/50 Vickers (Britain)

Japan anti-aircraft guns
20 mm	Type 98 Anti-Air Gun
	Foreign:
12.7 mm	M2HB (USA)
20 mm	Rh202 (Germany)
35 mm	Oerlikon KDA (Swiss)
40 mm	M2 Dual Automatic Gun (USA)