Japan's tank innovation: A novel defense against drone threats
Like other armed forces worldwide, Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (Rikujō Jieitai) closely observes the war in Ukraine and experiments with various ideas. One of these is the cages on tanks, fitted onto Type 90 and Type 10 machines.
Photos have appeared online of Japan's Type 90 and Type 10 tanks during tests at a training ground on the island of Hokkaido. They show these machines with a familiar "roof" on the turret, known from the war in Ukraine. This solution doesn't protect against modern anti-tank weapons but is helpful against small explosives dropped by drones.
Against FPV drones, it is unlikely to be effective because the roof, judging by the photos, is mounted about 1 metre above the tank's roof, leaving plenty of room on the sides for a drone to enter underneath.
Roofs on Japanese tanks — a desperate method against drones
It is worth noting that the roofs, sometimes even multi-layered, were first used by the Russians in 2022 as a method of defence against FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank guided missiles. They were useless against this threat but may help against light anti-tank charges such as bomblets or old anti-tank grenades dropped vertically.
This is the type of arsenal FPV drones or bombing drones, collectively known as "Baba Yaga," can deploy. In such a case, detonating, for example, a PG-7VL grenade capable of piercing 50 centimetres of armour steel a metre from the armour, significantly limits its capabilities. This way, the top armour of the tank, which is weakest from above, may withstand such a hit. There's always a chance that the grenade could get stuck in the mesh without exploding or that it will bounce off.
The downside, however, is the drastic reduction in camouflaging capabilities and, in theory, the difficulty in exiting the tank or operating the Browning M2 heavy machine gun located on top of the turret.
Overall, this is a desperate last-resort solution against bombing drones, but during the research phase, a dedicated means is most likely being developed to target drones. For example, the South Korean K2 tank, showcased at the MSPO 2024 trade fair, had an active defence system and a remotely controlled turret for drone hunting.
Type 90 and Type 10 tanks - The armoured core of the Self-Defense Forces
The Type 90 tank, introduced into service in 1990, is conceptually similar to the Leopard 2 but with local modifications. These include, for instance, the use of an autoloader in the turret's niche, similar to the French Leclerc, which allowed the crew to be reduced to three soldiers and a smaller turret to be used.
This resulted in a heavily protected machine with a weight of 50 tonnes. Interestingly, the main armament is a licensed 120 mm calibre cannon from Rheinmetall, used in other Western tanks.
The Type 10, in service since 2012, is a digitized and reduced-weight version of the Type 90 by about 5 tonnes. The high level of digitization significantly increases battlefield efficiency, and the lower weight allows for the use of most Japanese bridge infrastructure. Interestingly, this was not achieved by reducing protection, as it is supposed to be higher than in the case of the Type 90.
