Type 4 40 cm rocket launcher

Type 4 40 cm rocket launcher
Type 4 40 cm rocket
Type	Rocket artillery
Place of origin	Empire of Japan
Service history
In service	1943–1945
Used by	Imperial Japanese Army
Wars	World War II
Specifications
Mass	220 kilograms (490 lb)
Barrel length	3.22 metres (10 ft 7 in)
Shell	508 kilograms (1,120 lb)
Caliber	400 mm (16 in)
Elevation	40° to +65°
Muzzle velocity	220 m/s (720 ft/s)
Maximum firing range	3,700 metres (4,000 yd)

The Type 4 40 cm rocket mortar (四式四〇糎噴進, Yonshiki yonjū-senchi funshinhō) was a 400 mm (16 in) rocket used by the Imperial Japanese Army in the final stages of World War II.

Development and design

The Type 4 rocket mortar was developed in the final stages of World War II by the Imperial Japanese Army Technical Bureau, as a relatively low-cost, easy to produce weapon, which had an advantage of greater accuracy over conventional mortars in that it fired a spin-stabilized projectile. The first units were deployed in 1943, and were used in limited numbers in combat during the Battle of Iwo Jima and Battle of Okinawa. Due to its ease of construction, it was produced in limited numbers and distributed to hidden arsenals for use as last-ditch weapons during the projected Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands.

Unlike the Type 4 20 cm rocket, which could be launched from an ordinary pipe or culvert with sufficient diameter, wooden rails, or even directly from a slope in the ground,^[1] the Type 4 40 cm rocket required specially designed launch rails.^[2]

References

• Bishop, Chris (eds) The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II. Barnes & Nobel. 1998. ISBN 0-7607-1022-8
• Chamberlain, Peter and Gander, Terry. Heavy Field Artillery. Macdonald and Jane's (1975). ISBN 0-356-08215-6
• McLean, Donald B. Japanese Artillery; Weapons and Tactics. Wickenburg, Ariz.: Normount Technical Publications 1973. ISBN 0-87947-157-3.
• US Department of War, TM 30-480, Handbook on Japanese Military Forces, Louisiana State University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8071-2013-8

External links

• Type 4 on Taki's Imperial Japanese Army page

Notes

This page was last edited on 26 September 2022, at 00:58