Type 87 RCV
| This page is about the Japanese light tank Type 87 RCV. For the Japanese SPAA, see Type 87. |
Contents
Description
The Type 87 RCV (Reconnaissance Combat Vehicle) is a rank VI Japanese light tank with a battle rating of 9.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Direct Hit". It is nicknamed "ブラックアイ" (Black-Eye) but is commonly simply referred to as RCV.
General info
Survivability and armour
Most of the survivability will result from the lack of armour, most of the vehicle is covered by 10 mm armour with some frontal plates at 20 mm protection. It will be easy to be penalized by machine gun fire if spotted but, if the bullets/shells hit in empty spots from the side, the shells will go clean through without any damage to crew or components.
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull, Turret)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 10 mm (68°) Upper glacis
20 mm (31-66°) Lower glacis |
10 mm (10°) Top 10 mm (0°) Bottom |
10 mm (8°) | 10 mm |
| Turret | 20 mm | 10 mm | 4 + 10 mm | 10 mm |
| Cupola | 10 mm | |||
Notes:
- Wheels are 10 mm thick
- Has some external modules like fuel cans, mud flaps & optics all at 4 mm thick
- Radiators are 5 mm thick
Mobility
As a wheeled reconnaissance vehicle, it is able to get to positions rather fast especially when keeping on roads, allowing for easy flanking and getting on vantage points to scout out the enemy team.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 112 | 13 | 15 | 473 | 582 | 31.53 | 38.8 |
| Realistic | 101 | 12 | 270 | 305 | 18 | 20.33 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
With the armament the Type 87 RCV gets, it's most suitable as a support vehicle that can deal with lightly armoured vehicles and low flying aircraft. Once the APFSDS belt has been unlocked it can deal with most MBTs it faces by shooting out critical components one by one as this subcalibre 25 mm has barely any spalling effect.
| 25 mm Oerlikon KBA B02 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 400 (100) | 560 | -10°/+45° | ±180° | N/A | 57.1 | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | 10.4 | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ |
| Realistic | 35.7 | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | |||||||||
Ammunition
- Default: APDS · HEI-T* · HEI-T* - The standard belt that can fulfill both roles (anti-air and lightly armoured vehicles) but weaker against ground targets.
- M792: HEI-T* · HEI-T* · HEI-T* - This belt is adapted for targeting aircraft with its high-explosive shells.
- M791: APDS · APDS · APDS - This belt is adapted for targeting lightly armoured vehicles with its armour-piercing rounds.
- PMB 09: APFSDS - This belt is adapted for targeting medium armoured vehicles with its armour-piercing fin-stabilized rounds.
| Penetration statistics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belt | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | |
| Default | 80 | 79 | 73 | 67 | 61 | 55 |
| M792 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| M791 | 80 | 79 | 73 | 67 | 61 | 55 |
| PMB 09 | 92 | 90 | 83 | 75 | 62 | 58 |
| Belt details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belt | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile Mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| PMB 09 | APFSDS | 1,385 | 0.1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 78° | 80° | 81° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 4 (+0) | 3 (+1) | 2 (+2) | 1 (+3) | Yes |
Machine guns
| 7.62 mm Type 74 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 4,000 (250) | 500 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
As a wheeled reconnaissance vehicle with only a 25 mm autocannon to use, it's best played in its intended role, spotting the enemy team, using its fast manoeuvrability to flank, and shooting down low flying aircraft. It is best compared to the R3 T20 FA-HS with the benefits that a light tank gets: scouting and reducing SP for aircraft spawns.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- From the side on:
- Crew spaced out enough to not die in a single shot
- Because of light armour, it is able to take shells without much damage from spalling
- Powerful PBM 09 APFSDS round
- High penetration, enough to penetrate many vehicles up to 500 - 1,000 m
- High muzzle velocity, requiring little lead and little shell drop for engaging targets at range
- Decent rate of fire
- Great mobility
- Able to reach 100 km/h on roads with ease
- Fast enough to reach 50 km/h off-road
Cons:
- Relatively high profile for a recon vehicle
- High chance of getting knocked out by a single shot frontally
- Default belt leaves much to desire
- Very lightly armoured
- Only 2 reverse gears allowing it to reach -20 km/h
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Japan light tanks | |
|---|---|
| Type 89 | I-Go Ko |
| Type 95 | Ha-Go · Ha-Go Commander |
| Type 98 | Ke-Ni |
| Other | Ka-Mi |
| IFV | Type 89 |
| RCV | Type 87 RCV (P) · Type 87 RCV · RCV (P) |
| MCV | Type 16 (P) · Type 16 (FPS) · Type 16 |
| USA | ▅M24 · ▅M41A1 |
