Type 74

The Type 90 is a tier 5 Premium Main Battle Tank originating from Japan. It can only be acquired via Enigma’s Legacy Battle Path campaign.

Features

 * Heavy Armor: this vehicle's armor bounces more shots and takes more hits
 * Adjustable Suspension: this vehicle features a hydraulic suspension that allows you to manually change its ground clearance.
 * Advanced Hydraulic Suspension: this vehicle's suspension allows you to tilt its hull to the front, to the rear, and to each side for improved gun elevation and depression angles.

History
Class: Main Battle Tank Developed: 1965-1973

Service: 1974+

Vehicles Built: 893

Operators: Japan

The Type 74 (Nana-Yon-Shiki-Sensha) Main Battle Tank was designed to succeed the obsolete Type 61. Both tanks were built as defensive weapons with Japan's mountainous terrain in mind, but the Type 74 MBT was the first one to be equipped with a hydraulic suspension that allowed it to tilt its hull to all sides, greatly increasing its gun elevation and depression capabilities. It was also armed with a Japanese version of the NATO 105mm L7 gun.

The development officially started in 1965 as part of the STB (Type 74 prototype and development) program, even though some of its components were even older.One of the STB prototypes was shown to the public in 1972 and immediate caught the public's attention thanks to its rather beautiful, sleek lines. In November 1973, the STB design was reviewed and approved for mass-production under the designation, Type 74. Success was expected of this tank, so much that Sanadori Yamanaka, the Japanese minister of defense at the time, tried to have it named after him (despite not being connected to it in any was) as the "Yamanaka Tank." This notion failed. The tank was produced by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries between 1975 and 1988 with 893 vehicles built.

The problem was that the tank was fairly obsolete even by the time it entered service. The Japanese were, of course, aware of the fact that, once again, they were in possession of an obsolete MBT that was inferior to the Russian T-72 series, which is why a development program for its replacement (called the TK-X) was launched as early as 1977. That program resulted in the Type 90 MBT, which was only available starting from 1990. The Soviet Union fell apart one year later.