The Type 4 Ke-Nu (四式軽戦車 ケヌ Yon-shiki keisensha Kenu) was a light tank of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II

The Type 4 Ke-Nu (四式軽戦車 ケヌ Yon-shiki keisensha Kenu). Armament: 57 mm cannon (type 97) and two machine guns (Type 97). Crew – 5 people.

The museum of the Great Patriotic War, Moscow.

The Type 4 Ke-Nu (四式軽戦車 ケヌ, Yon-shiki keisensha Kenu) was a light tank of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. It was a conversion of existing Type 95 Ha-Go light tanks, re-fitted with the larger turret of the Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank.The Type 4 Ke-Nu was a variant of the Type 95 Ha-Go light tank.

The original Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank was armed with a low muzzle velocity 57 mm tank gun. Operational experience against the Soviet Red Army at Nomonhan during the Soviet–Japanese border conflicts in 1939 revealed that this gun was inadequate against opposing armor, and a new higher velocity 47 mm tank gun was developed. This was installed in the Type 97 Chi-Ha with a larger turret to produce the Type 97-kai Shinhoto version.

This left a large number of surplus Type 97 Chi-Ha turrets, which were later retrofitted onto the hulls of the obsolete Type 95 Ha-Go light tank. The result was designated the Type 4 Ke-Nu. The retrofitting did decrease the problem of cramped turret place for the crew, which had been encountered in an earlier attempt to up-gun Type 95 tanks with a 57 mm tank gun in a modified turret of a prototype known as the Type 3 Ke-Ri light tank. As for the Type 4 Ke-Nu, approximately 100 units were converted in 1944.

Engine: Mitsubishi A6120VDe air-cooled inline 6-cylinder diesel.

 

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