The Type 60 SPRR is a light Japanese anti-tank gun armed with two recoilless American rifles. That’s right, recoilless! Unusual cannons like this are making their first appearance in the game. The Type 60 Self-Propelled Recoilless Rifle is a light anti-tank gun, one of the first developed by Japan after the war. In the 1950s, Japan was forced to deviate from its post-war development concept of exclusively peaceful industry and return to designing its own military vehicles. Apart from universal, but expensive-to-produce tanks, the developed countries of the world often held cheaper, but less effective anti-tank guns in service. Japan also decided not to become an exception. In 1954, the Komatsu and Mitsubishi companies received an order to develop and build prototypes of a new light anti-tank gun armed with two recoilless rifles. By 1955, the SS1 and SS2 prototypes by the Komatsu and Mitsubishi companies respectively were ready. Mitsubishi’s SS2 won favor in the course of testing, but Komatsu had no plans to give up, and in 1956, they presented a new prototype for testing with the index SS3, armed with 4 recoilless rifles at once. The installation of 4 guns later had to be dropped, since their position made the vehicle’s profile too tall and noticeable. By 1959, the Komatsu company had developed its fourth and final prototype, designated SS4, with a more powerful engine and new transmission. This was accepted into service under the designation Type 60 Self-Propelled Recoilless Rifle in 1960.

By design, the Type 60 SPRR was an eight-ton armored vehicle with two twinned American 106 mm recoilless M40 guns mounted in the right side of the hull in a mobile mounting point. The mounting point had two possible positions. In the lower position, which was usually used when traveling, the guns had very limited vertical and horizontal aiming angles. In the extended upper position, which was the primary battle position, the guns could rotate and drop significantly better, which made them far easier to aim. For precise aiming, a high-caliber M80 machine gun was attached firmly above each gun. This machine gun’s shots had the same ballistic trajectory as those of the 106 mm gun itself. It should be noted that with consideration for the M40 guns’ limited ammunition complement, this decision was very fortuitous. To reload the guns, the loader had to go out onto the roof of the engine compartment located in the rear of the vehicle or stand completely behind it. [quote]Read the full Dev Blog article here![/quote]