Type 87
| This page is about the Japanese SPAA Type 87. For other uses, see Type 87 (Disambiguation). |
Contents
Description
The Twin 35 mm Self-Propelled Gun Type 87 is a Japanese self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, roughly similar in concept to the Flakpanzer Gepard to replace the M15 and M42 in Japanese service. Initially designed to utilize the Type 61 hull, development was switched to the newly available Type 74 hull to keep it up to date. It is commonly nicknamed as "Guntank" by Japanese crews after the similar-looking mecha in the Mobile Suit Gundam series.
Introduced in Update 1.67 "Assault", the Type 87 is incredibly similar to the German Flakpanzer Gepard, using the same 35 mm Oerlikon KDA autocannons with a similar turret layout. The Type 87 performs fairly well at its rank, being able to effectively engage aircraft thanks to its high rate of fire, quick turret traverse, and radar systems. It is also capable of fighting lightly armoured tanks such as most IFVs (BMP, Warrior, Bradley, etc.), destroying them in seconds with its rapid-firing guns. The Type 87 is also extremely proficient at shooting down helicopters - the AH-1G is a common nuisance that the Type 87 has no difficulty destroying. However, against more modern helicopters (Ka-50, AH-64, etc) that often stay at longer ranges, the Type 87 is harmless and the only thing the tank commander can do is take notice of the laser warning system, deploy smoke, and take cover.
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour type:
- Aluminum Alloy AMS 4050A (Turret)
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 30 mm (78°) Front glacis 30 mm (21-63°) Lower glacis |
20 mm | 20 mm (16°) Top 20 mm (49°) Bottom |
15 mm |
| Turret | 25 mm (6-37°) 20 mm (76°) Turret underside |
20 mm Turret side 10 mm Cannons |
15 mm (3°) | 15 mm 20 mm (69°) Turret underside |
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 58 | 9 | 38 | 1,235 | 1,660 | 32.5 | 43.68 |
| Realistic | 54 | 8 | 769 | 870 | 20.24 | 22.89 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
Main weapons are the 35 mm Oerlikon KDA autocannons, which are essentially the same as Gepard's. They are different from KDE gun variant of type 89 if you used it - they use completely different ammunition and fire much faster.
Guns will overheat if fired for longer than 15 seconds. They will cool off in about 30 seconds, but you can unjam them earlier by switching between ammunition belts.
The guns are placed close to the centre of a turret, typically, if you missed one shot, you probably missed both shots. For this reason SPAA relies more on precise lengthy bursts with enemy flight path prediction, rather than "fire a 30 shot burst there and forget about it" of Chieftain Marksman. You have more ammunition for the gun than British equivalent, to compensate for this.
35 mm gun is slightly weaker than the Bofors of M42. One thing to keep in mind is with this vehicle you are hunting jets and jets suffer much heavier stress from the speed they employ. This heavier stress equates to greater damage caused by even one or two hits of 35 mm HEI-T which will explode them or rip off their wings. For best results, you just need to hit them once or twice, which 35 mm guns are much better at doing.
For ammunition you can choose one main and one secondary belt. The secondary belt only has 40 shells, but it can be used to attack the enemy from capture points, as it rearms significantly faster. However, the secondary belt can be used in place of the main one for self-defence while the main belt rearms, so as to not leave the Type 87 defenceless.
| 35 mm Oerlikon KDA (x2) | 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 | 680 (320) | 550 | -5°/+85° | ±180° | Two-plane | 49.3 | 68.3 | 82.9 | 91.7 | 97.5 | 1.30 | 1.15 | 1.06 | 1.00 |
| Realistic | 33.3 | 39.2 | 47.6 | 52.7 | 56.0 | |||||||||
Ammunition
- Default: API-T* · HEI-T* - can attack planes and light tanks alike. HEI-T does fatal damage to aeroplanes, but has 3 mm penetration, being useless against tanks. API-T penetration is about 64 mm at 100 m at a flat angle. Keep in mind that it can fail to penetrate medium tanks. Against planes, API-T does kinetic damage and may rip off their wings on a good hit.
- DM11A1: HEI-T* · HEI-T* · HEI-T* · API-T* - 75% of this belt does critical damage to aircraft but does nothing to ground vehicles.
- DM13: API-T* · API-T* · API-T* · HEI-T* - 75% of this belt does significant damage to light tanks but does less damage to aircraft.
- DM23: APDS - APDS has better penetration value, easily penetrating 100 mm at 100 m at a flat angle, penetrating even decently protected tanks from the side and can threaten lightly armoured tanks even at 2 km range. Cannot be chosen as the main belt.
Note: HEI-T does no damage to armoured targets, but critically damages planes.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | ||||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| HEI-T* | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 5 | |
| API-T* | 68 | 66 | 57 | 47 | 39 | 32 | |
| APDS | 127 | 125 | 118 | 110 | 102 | 95 | |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| HEI-T* | 1,175 | 0.55 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 204 | 79° | 80° | 81° | ||||
| API-T* | 1,175 | 0.55 | 1.2 | 9 | 37.4 | 47° | 60° | 65° | ||||
| APDS | 1,400 | 0.38 | - | - | - | 75° | 78° | 80° | ||||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 0 (+4) | No |
Radars
The Type 87 is equipped with a MPDR 12 search radar and an Albis tracking radar. Both radars are mounted at the rear of the turret, with the search radar mounted on top of an arm and the tracking radar mounted at the base of the arm. The radar system is capable of tracking a target while scanning, but can only track targets within a 200° arc from the front of the turret. It is not possible to fold the radars at this time.
Search radar of this tank may often fail to catch passing by planes at closer ranges, which can be still locked on by tracking radar. In such case, you can try to go to sniper mode and aim crosshairs at enemy aircraft, then press "lock on" key to trigger manual tracking radar scan (will be visible by a quick sweep on radar display). If it failed, then the enemy plane has way too low relative speed to be consistently tracked.
| MPDR 12 - Target Detection Radar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum Detection Range |
Minimum Detection Range |
Max Azimuth Scan Angle |
Max Elevation Scan Angle |
Minimum relative speed |
| 15,000 m | 500 m | 360° | ??? | 10 m/s (36 km/h) |
| Albis - Target Tracking Radar | ||||
| Maximum Tracking Range |
Minimum Tracking Range |
Azimuth Tracking Angle |
Elevation Tracking Angle |
Minimum target speed |
| 15,000 m | 75 m | ±100° | -20°/+85° | 15 m/s (54 km/h) |
Usage in battles
As an anti-aircraft vehicle, you should push with your team and defend cap points by protecting allies from aircraft with your powerful 35 mm guns. It should not be a problem to stay away from the main battle unless you are being pushed or your position is being overrun. In case if you see enemy light SPG or light tank, you can try to destroy them as well. With APDS belt you may dare to attack decently armoured medium tanks from the side, but you only have enough ammo for one or two encounters, so make it count.
Despite having radar, staying too far away from allies in arcade mode may backfire, as shells still take some time to reach enemy aircraft and hostile bombers only have to be 1.8 km away from them to drop bombs in the most efficient way possible, and it doesn't take a long time for them to reach that distance. If enemy aircraft is constantly wiggling, radar supported aim will also go all over the place, so try to guess where they are going, or press them to force them to change direction to one away from your allies.
In case if you actually got attacked by ground forces, you should then aim for cannon barrels and tracks of enemy vehicles. Your hull armour may deflect inbound shots if angled correctly, but don't expect your turret to do the same, as its armour is very thin and generally will be penetrated by everything at your battle rating and rank. Keep in mind, that your tank is a hull breakable vehicle, so avoid being hit by HEATFS rounds or by large kinetic shells into the engine compartment area.
Use your Hydropneumatic suspension to get better search radar coverage and gun depression on your targets, or to keep yourself standing flat. Standing flat is important, as being angled too much may add horizontal targeting error.
In case if you are fighting multiple attackers or rocket helicopters, avoid being carpet-bombed, as the Type 87 is not built to survive such attacks. Be especially careful with Soviet helicopters, as they can carry both rockets and missiles. Remember - radar lock will help your gun to stay on target even when you are moving, and so, if you see a wall of rockets approaching you, sidestep it and don't just stand there and take it.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Powerful, fast-firing 35 mm twin Oerlikon KDA cannon
- Quick with the Type 74 chassis, up to 58 km/h
- Hydropneumatic suspension with the Type 74 chassis
- Can engage tanks from their sides
Cons:
- -5 degrees of gun depression (bad compared to the Flakpanzer Gepard)
- 30 mm armour maximum
- Comparatively meagre turret rotation speed
- You can only have one secondary belt selected with a meagre ammo count
- Spinning radar dish may make you more visible in tank realistic battles
History
The Type 87 anti-aircraft gun entered into service in the Japanese Self-Defense Forces as a replacement for the hopelessly outdated American Duster SPAAG. The specification and concept for the new anti-aircraft vehicle was based on the German Gepard SPAAG that our players know so well. The vehicle used a modified Type 74 tank chassis and was equipped with the Oerlikon 35 mm twin cannon system as used in the Gepard. The vehicle was a success – more than 50 of these SPAAGs were put into production and several units remain in service today.
- From Devblog
Media
- Skins
See also
- Related development
- Other vehicles of similar configuration and role
External links
| Japan anti-aircraft vehicles | |
|---|---|
| Ke-Ni Derivatives | Ta-Se · So-Ki |
| Wheeled | Type 94 |
| Tracked | SUB-I-II |
| Radar SPAAG | Type 87 |
| Missile SPAA | Type 93 · Type 81 (C) |
| USA | ▅M16 MGMC · ▅M19A1 · ▅M42 |
