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The new NBC wheeled reconnaissance vehicle of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force 0308124

World Military Equipment - Japanese NBC vehicle

Friday, August 3, 2012, 10:36 AM

The new NBC wheeled reconnaissance vehicle of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force.

The Japanese Ground Self-defence Force (GSDF) has introduce a new wheeled NBC reconnaissance vehicle. Three of these vehicles were brought into service in March 2012. They are designed to enter a suspected contamination zone and detect the presence of NBC materials.

The new NBC reconnaissance vehicle of the GSDF (Japanese Army)

This new vehicle, on display at the GSDF’s Chemical School in Saitama, comes equipped with rubber gloves that allow the crew to collect samples without leaving the safety of the vehicle.

At a cost of around ¥700,000,000 per vehicle, the rather simple solution to sampling contaminated material seems a little out of place, but sometimes simplicity is best. Once contamination has been determined, the data is passed back to local commanders and the Ministry of Defense for decision-makers to act upon.

The vehicle combines the functions of the older Chemical Protection Vehicle (B-Variant), brought into service in 1999, which was based upon the frame of the Type-82 Command Communication Vehicle, and the Biological Reconnaissance Vehicle, based on the chassis of the Type-73 3.5-ton Truck. The Chemical Protection Vehicle saw considerable use in the exclusion zone around the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant in the past year.

Around 50 vehicles will be put into service with the Central Nuclear Biological Chemical Weapon Defense Unit, which has been a key unit in the response to the Fukushima nuclear accident, and part of which will be charged with first-response to NBC attack in the capital.