Since late last year, the Japanese military has been working on projects aimed at “realizing” Gundam, the mobile armor suit that is both combat exoskeleton and A.I. in several popular anime and manga series. Just yesterday, the Defense Ministry of Techinical Research and Development Institute in Japan rolled out these new tanks, whose high-tech specs don’t make it sentient armor exactly but certainly fit the bill of “smart tank.” Want to see a strangely incongruous image of one of these tanks crunching its way out of a festive-looking tent in the suburbs?
The tank is 9.42 meters long, 3.24 meters wide, and 2.3 meters tall. The 44-ton tank comes equipped with a 120mm gun, a 12.7mm and a 7.67mm machine gun. Japan’s military is, by law, only for defense. These tanks certainly do look very . . . defensive. Photos via TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images
Japan’s Defense Ministry to Explore “Realizing” Gundam [Anime News Network]
