The Common Tactical Wheeled Vehicle (CTWV) is a family of wheeled armoured vehicles that are expected to be deployed by the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force. This vehicle is based on the same platform as the Type 16 manoeuvre combat vehicle, and four further variants have been developed, of which three will enter service.

Background

The CTWV is based on the MAV (Mitsubishi Armoured Vehicle), which development was initiated in the early 2010s, and was unveiled in 2014 at

Eurosatory Eurosatory is the largest international exhibition for the land and air-land defence and security industry. It is held every two years in the Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre, Paris, France. In 2022, it gathered over 1,700 exhibitors and ...

. It is derived from the Type 16 from which it shared 80% of the components. The vehicles in service that will be replaced by the new vehicles will be stored. The Japan government plans an important budget to store and preserve the vehicles, as well as keep and maintain the spare equipment. It is a change in the policy, as up to now, the JGSDF tended to dismantle and scrap the existing equipment.

Type 96 successor

This vehicle base was initially developed for the "Improved Wheeled Armoured Personnel Carrier" programme, as a successor of the Type 96 armoured personnel carrier. In January 2018,

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the prede ...

received a contract for the construction of a prototype of the "Common Tactical Wheeled Vehicle System Design A", a variant based on the Type 16 manoeuvre combat vehicle. In February 2018, a contract was signed with Komatsu Ltd. for the "Common Tactical Wheeled Vehicle System Design B" prototype, a variant of the . Initially, the offer by Komatsu was selected, but due to problems with the armour and other elements, the programme was cancelled. A new programme for the replacement of the Type 96 was put in place, and is known as the "next generation armoured vehicle". The main variant will be an

armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

, but there will also by command-and-control vehicles, armoured ambulances, logistics support vehicles and engineer variants. The offers made for this programme include: * MAV (

), the APC variant of the Common tactical wheeled vehicle * Patria AMV^XP * LAV 6.0 by General Dynamics Land Systems Canada and Sojitz Aerospace The offer of GDLS was dropped because it was incapable to provide a prototype for testing in the timeline required by the JSDF. During the testing the Patria AMV^XP proved its superiority and it was selected in December 2022.

CTWV programme

In December 2019, the JSDF ordered prototypes of three new variants of the MAV under the "Common Tactical Wheeled Vehicle" programme: * * * This family of vehicles has been ordered to equip the Rapid Deployment Regiment of the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force, able to quickly be deployed in case of an urgent need. A total of 370 armoured fighting vehicles of this family are expected to be ordered.

Type 24 Wheeled Armored Fighting Vehicle

This variant is a wheeled highly mobile

infantry fighting vehicle An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle and armoured personnel carrier used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct fire, direct-fire suppo ...

for the JGSDF.

Type 25 Reconnaissance and Surveillance Vehicle

This variant is designed to succeed to the Type 87 RCV in the JGSDF. The testing of the prototype was going on in 2023.

Type 24 Mobile 120 mm Mortar

This variant will be replacement of the 120mm mortar RT (license-built version of the MO-120 RT). The vehicle has a roof opening system for a Thales 2R2M mortar platform firing at 360°. On the sides, there are storage spaces for the shells and for the propellers.

Specifications of the variants

Operators

Future operators

; (67 ordered as of 2025, 450 target) : As of 2024, the total order list includes: :* : 42 serial production + 1 prototype :* : 16 serial production + 1 prototype :* : 6 serial production + 1 prototype

Failed bids

; : Competition lost for the replacement of the Type 96 APC against the Patria AMV^XP.

Detailed list of orders

Footnotes

References

{{Armoured combat vehicles Armoured cars of Japan Fire support vehicles Post–Cold War military equipment of Japan Mitsubishi Heavy Industries armored vehicles Eight-wheeled vehicles Military vehicles introduced in the 2000s Infantry fighting vehicles of the post–Cold War period Armoured fighting vehicles of the post–Cold War period