type 96 aa gun
The Type 96 25mm autocannon was the standard medium-range anti-aircraft gun of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was used in single, double, and even triple barrel mounts on all Japanese vessels. It was also used as a dual-purpose anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapon on fixed mounts in land bases.
Based on a French Hochkiss design from the mid-1930s, the Type 96 struggled to keep pace with increasing aircraft speed and armor developments of the late 1930s into the start of World War II, and during the war often required multiple batteries working in concert to down single Allied aircrafts. Nevertheless, the lack of available alternatives kept the Type 96 as the main Japanese AA weapon through the war.
See also
- Type 93 HMG A 13mm machine gun used as light AA, that by the end of the war was mostly replaced by single-barrel versions of the Type 96.
- Bofors 40 mm gun The Allied equivalent of the Type 96, as a medium-range AA gun.