The Type 72 Ni-Go (nana-yon-shiki-sensha Ni-go) is a main battle tank used by the Japanese Imperial Self-Defense Forces during the latter years of the Cold War era, replacing the earlier Type 57 main battle tanks that had served both army and marines during the earlier years. The tank, in a complete departure from most if not all other tank designs of the other nations at the time, mounted a rapid-firing 75mm gun as opposed to the 120mm and 125mm guns other nations would typically field, opting to sacrifice individual firepower over rate of fire and ammunition capacity. The 75mm/80 smoothbore, a new design developed from scratch by Japan Steel Works to fire an existing ammunition type meant for light artillery, however, was not a pushover, in fact, it was very much the opposite. The 75mm at standard combat ranges could penetrate up to 305mm of RHA at 45 degrees from vertical, which would make it the rough equal of any other tank equipped with a 120mm/50 gun.

Overview
Type: Main battle tank
Origin: Japan
Manufacturer: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Operators: see Operators
Developed from: Mitubishi Type 57
Produced: 1972-current

Specifications
Mass: 36 tons standard load
Length: 32.1ft (9.8m)
Width: 11.7ft (3.6m)
Height: 10.5ft (3.2m)
Crew: 3 (commander, gunner and driver)

Armor
Japan Steel Works tungsten carbide/steel-ceramic composite, effective protection equal to 6x RHA
- 100mm front, angled 60-80 degrees from vertical
- 50mm sides and rear, vertical
- 150mm frontal turret, angled 45 degrees from vertical
- 75mm turret sides and rear, vertical
- 37mm turret roof, horizontal

Armament
1x Enoshima Type 68 75mm/80 high-velocity smoothbore cannon (99 rounds)
2x Type 93 heavy machine gun (1 coaxial, 1 turret)

General characteristics
Autoloader: Revolving breech, tilting arm carosel (rate of fire: 60 rounds/min)
Engine: 1x Mitsubishi Sakae 14-cylinder air-cooled single-turbo radial diesel engine, 1,100hp, 2,100rpm
Transmission: 4-speed sequential automatic torsion shifter transmission, 2 secondary reverse clutches
Suspension: Torsion spring
Top speed: 72km/h (44mph) forwards, 72km/h (44mph) backwards
Operational range: 700km

Countermeasures
2x Type 80 active protection systems
2x Type 57 flare launchers
2x Type 80 infa-red jammers

Optics and targeting equipment
Mikasa Mi-70 day/night vision optical sight
Mikasa Mi-69 gyro-stabilized tank fire-control system
Aichi Kokuki Ai-71 infared laser rangefinder
- backup secondary open ring iron sights and coincidence rangefinder

Operators
Japan (Japanese Imperial Self-Defense Forces): 20,000 vehicles, organized into 20 armored battalions.

Controls
AG1: Night Vision/ Jammer
AG2 + FireGuns: APS
WASD: Driving the mechanical abnomination
IMPORTANT: Within the list of weapons, there is one titled '13.2mm coaxial heavy machine gun'. This weapon serves no other purpuse than to toggle the fire control system into aiming for the coaxial wing gun that has gravityless bullet paths as opposed to the dropping trajectories of the 75mm smoothbore.