page_title: Tanks in the Japanese Army
section_title: Type 98 light tank
hierarchical_section_title: Tanks in the Japanese Army / Overview per tank / Type 98 light tank
caption_attribution_description: English: Type 98A Ke-Ni light tank of the Imperial Japanese Army
context_section_description: The Type 98 light tank Ke-Ni (九八式軽戦車 ケニ, Kyuhachi-shiki keisensha Ke-Ni) was designed to replace the Type 95 Ha-Go light tank. It is also referred to as the Type 98 Chi-Ni light tank by some sources. It was developed in 1938 to address deficiencies in the Type 95 design already apparent from combat experience in Manchukuo and China in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Imperial Japanese Army General Staff realized that the Type 95 was vulnerable to heavy machine-gun fire–(12.7 mm/0.5 inches)–so it determined the development of a new light tank with the same weight as the Type 95, but with thicker armor was needed.
  Even though the Hino Motors "Chi-Ni Model A" prototype was accepted after field trials as the new Type 98 light tank, series production did not begin until 1942. The Type 98 had a two-man turret, an improvement on the asymmetrical turret used on the Type 95, carrying a Type 100 37 mm tank gun, with a muzzle velocity of 760 m/s (2,500 ft/s) and a 7.7 mm machine-gun in a coaxial mount. A total of 104 Type 98s are known to have been built: 1 in 1941, 24 in 1942 and 79 in 1943. One prototype variant built in 1941 was the Type 98 Ta-Se, an anti-aircraft tank that mounted a converted Type 98 20 mm AA machine cannon.
caption: Type 98A Ke-Ni light tank
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "998", "Image ImageLength": "707", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD", "Image Model": "X-2,C-50Z", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "144", "Image YResolution": "144", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2017:04:26 13:16:15", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image XPKeywords": "[15, 92, 238, 104, 193, 144, 196, 150, 42, 130, 122, 122, 95, 106, 153, 81, 31, 119, 198, 150, ... ]", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 20, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Image ExifOffset": "2644", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5506", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7508", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/13", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:11:26 19:24:22", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:11:26 19:24:22", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "92511/25000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "88/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "998", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "561", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "5392", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "0556B0DCFC204809A0E1E9153550BCA0", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4178"}