Overview
- The Type-10 that exploded at the Hijudai range in Oita was firing normally minutes earlier on Tuesday, when a 120mm round blew inside the turret and killed three crew and badly injured the driver.
- An accident committee has begun on-site work that examines the shattered round, the damaged turret, and the tank’s condition, while pulling radio traffic and interviewing nearby personnel.
- As a precaution, the army has halted live and blank-fire training with Type-10 tanks and told units to stop using the same 120mm anti-tank round in Type-90 tanks.
- The exercise involved about 100 Western Army personnel with six Type-10s present, and three tanks were conducting live fire when the explosion occurred.
- The tank uses an autoloader and built-in blast protections that make internal detonations rare in JGSDF experience, which has intensified scrutiny of possible munition defects, mechanical faults, or human error.