Type 5 cannon

Go Back to Autocannon

Go Back To Weapons Home

	Weapon: Type 5 cannon Type: Autocannon Country of Origin: Japan Year Adopted: 1945 Caliber: 30x122mm Action: Short Recoil Overall Length (mm): 2070.0 Overall Length (in): 81.5 Weight (kg): 70.00 Weight (pounds): 154.32 Effective Range (m): 1200 m Effective Range (yards): 1312.34

The Type 5 30mm aircraft cannon was developed by the Imperial Japanese Army in the closing years of World War II as a response to the growing threat of heavily armed and armored Allied bombers. Drawing on the design of the German MK 108 cannon, the Type 5 featured a short-recoil, blowback action and fired a 30x122mm cartridge. Compared to earlier Japanese aircraft armaments, the Type 5 was significantly more powerful, capable of delivering devastating firepower against targets such as the B-29 Superfortress. It was designed to be compact and lightweight enough for wing or nose mounting on interceptor aircraft.

Production of the Type 5 began in 1944, but due to the late stage of the war and the increasingly dire condition of Japan's industrial infrastructure, very few units were completed-estimates range from a few dozen to just over one hundred. It was primarily intended for use on advanced fighter designs such as the Kawasaki Ki-102 and later versions of the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate, but full integration into frontline service was never realized. Testing showed promising results in terms of destructive capability, particularly against bomber formations, but the cannon's limited availability meant it had almost no battlefield presence.

Though rarely used in combat, the Type 5 has garnered notoriety as one of Japan's most powerful indigenous aircraft cannons. Its late-war development reflects Japan's urgent need for effective interceptor weapons capable of challenging the Allied strategic bombing campaign. The cannon remains a symbol of Japan's technological adaptation under duress, and it has become a point of interest among historians studying late-war military innovations. Today, the Type 5 is largely a historical footnote, with surviving examples extremely rare and mostly found in archival references or museum collections.