Type 94 (37 mm)

This page is about the Japanese cannon Type 94 (37 mm). For other uses, see Type 94 (Disambiguation).

Description

The Type 94 37 mm anti-tank gun is the earliest anti-tank gun Japan developed to counter light armour. Being developed after the Type 11 37 mm infantry gun, this gun saw both service as a field gun and tank gun.

While intended as an anti-tank gun, due its short bore, low muzzle velocity, short-range and slow reloading time the gun saw limited capabilities against other armour.

Designed in 1934 and designated as Type 94 (2594), it wasn't fully adopted until 1936 (2596) but still kept its initial designation.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• Ha-Go
• Ha-Go Commander
• Ro-Go
• Ki-45 otsu

General info

Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.

Available ammunition

Tanks

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
Type 94 APHE	APHE	34	33	27	22	17	14

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
Type 94 APHE	APHE	575	0.7	1.2	9	11	47°	60°	65°

Aircraft

• Default: HEF*
• Armoured targets: APHE

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
37 mm HEF	HEF*	3	3	3	3	3	3
37 mm APHE	APHE	34	33	27	22	17	14

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
37 mm HEF	HEF*	580	0.65	0	0.4	56.84	79°	80°	81°
37 mm APHE	APHE	575	0.7	1.2	9	11	47°	60°	65°

Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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Pros:

Cons:

History

Japan's first anti-tank gun was the Type 11 pattern 1922 (37 mm), a copy of the French 37 mm Mle.1916 World War I-era infantry gun meant for eliminating machine gun nests. A short range weapon with a long reload time, low muzzle velocity, and short bore, the Imperial Japanese Army ordered a replacement in 1933, which was completed in 1934 and entered service as the Type 94 in 1936. The Type 94 would be the Army's main anti-tank gun and could penetrate 1.7 inches (43 mm) of armour at 500 yards (460 metres) with its armour-piercing shell. The low-profile weapon was used against Soviet BT infantry tanks in Manchuria during the 1938 border skirmishes, but it was recognized the Type 94 would soon become obsolete. The longer barrelled Type 1 anti-tank was created in 1941 to extend the service of the Type 94, but the M4 Sherman rendered both guns obsolete during World War II. The IJA created the larger Type 1 (47 mm) anti-tank to replace the Type 94 during World War II, but the gun would remain in service throughout the entire conflict despite being obsolete.

Like other nations of the time, Japan followed the idea of adapting their tank cannons, with the Type 94 being used for the Type 95 Ha-Go light tank, the Type 97 Te-Ke tankette, on the front turret of the multi-turret Type 95 Ro-Go heavy tank, and was mounted on the hull of the Type 4 Chi-Ri prototype medium tank. Another unusual application of the Type 94 was as an anti-bomber cannon for the Ki-45 otsu to counter the American B-17 Flying Fortress. Despite the effective firepower, the low rate of fire of the Type 94 resulted in its replaced on subsequent models of the Ki-45 in favour of the Ho-203 37 mm automatic gun.

Media

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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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Japan tank cannons
37 mm	Type 94 · Type 100 · Type 1
47 mm	Type 1
57 mm	Type 90 · Type 97
70 mm	Type 94
75 mm	Type 90 · Type 99 · Type 3 · Type 5 (Type I Model II · Type II Model I · Type II Model II)
90 mm	Type 61
105 mm	Type 5 (Experimental · Production) · JSW L/52
106 mm	Type 60 (B)
120 mm	Taishō Type 10 · Navy short gun · Type 90 L/44 · Type 10 L/44
150 mm	Type 38
155 mm	NSJ L/30 · JSW L/52
	Foreign:
25 mm	Oerlikon KBA B02 (Switzerland)
30 mm	Bushmaster 2 Mk.44 (USA)
35 mm	Oerlikon KDE (Switzerland)
75 mm	M6 (USA)
76 mm	M1 (USA) · M32 (USA)
88 mm	KwK36 (Germany)
90 mm	M3A1 (USA) · M36 (USA)
105 mm	L7A3 (Germany)
120 mm	Schneider-Canet 1898 (France)