SS: Today, we have another guest article from SoukouDragon 🙂 Enjoy

Author: SoukouDragon, US forums

A new light tank designed for the Imperial Japanese army. It was to carry with it the same firepower as the Chi Ha Shinhoto and have 300mm wide treads. The 150hp engine was supercharged. Main armament was the Type 1 47mm tank gun. Since it was expected to use its cannon often, 90 rounds was required.

Characteristics

Weight: 10 tons
Length: 4.380mm
Width: 2.235mm
Height: 2.227mm

Armor (mm)
Turret Front: 20
Turret Side: 16
Turret Back: 16
Hull Front: 20
Hull Side: 16
Hull Back: 12
Hull Top: 12
Hull Bottom: 8

In world of tanks, its 15 hp/ton is grossly outmatched by the other tier 5 light tanks which have over 25hp/ton. Even with 300mm wide tracks on the 10 ton tank, it is difficult to imagining the Ke Ho to have similar acceleration with the other tier 5 light tanks. The diesel 150hp engine is an in-line 6 cylinder engine. Even though the Chi He tank is of similar dimensions to the Ke Ho but a little longer, the Chi He’s 240hp V12 diesel engine would probably be too large to serve as an upgrade even though 240hp would probably provide enough hp/ton.

The 47mm cannon would be comparable to the 50mm L/60 on the VK 1602 Leopard. The combat weight of the Type 1 47mm cannon is about 400kg. With about just 140kg more, the experimental 57mm cannon that was tested on the early Chi To could perhaps be fitted on as an upgrade. That would give the Ke Ho competitive firepower amongst the tier 5 light tanks.

Experimental 57mm Tank Gun (L48.5)

Combat Weight: 543kg
Muzzle velocity: 810m/s
Type 1 AP round
Penetration: 60mm at 1,000m

Source:

“Japan’s Tanks” by Hara Tomio　1978（日本の戦車 原乙未生)
“Japanese Army Cannons: Infantry cannons, anti-tank cannons” by Sayama Jiro (日本陸軍の火砲　歩兵砲　対戦車砲　他　佐山二郎)