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