new japanese tank - type 10

[Kota]

OK, odd point to make perhaps and it may have been made earlier but, in Japan they drive on e correct side of the road and you want the driver either the centre or OFF side of the road/vehicle. This has the driver on the LEFT side of the vehicle so, what gives?

It's a holdover from all the way back to the Type 74. Since the gunner and commander were already on the right, so they put the driver on the loaders side to better distribute the crew. Japan thought about going for a center driver position like on the Abrams, but decided against it because it took up more space and decreased ammo carried. They decided to just keep the driver on the same side as the Type 74 since crews often started out as 74 crews or initially trained on them. With how little Japan puts tanks on public roads its not necessarily an issue and its not an issue in war time. For vehicles that do frequent the road like the Type 16, Type 87 RCV, Type 96, they do have right hand drive. When crews of Type 74s transfer to Type 16s they often have a transitional period in the Type 87 to get them used to right hand drive and wheeled vehicle handling.

 

[Foo Fighter]

Cheers mate, my thoughts were based on the ammunition storage. In front of the gunner, the hull space is lost anyway. In front of the loader you can position additional ammo as the loader can get to it. Tight but doable. Centurion has this.

 

[Kota]

In front of the loader you can position additional ammo as the loader can get to it. Tight but doable. Centurion has this.

From what I know this is almost always done outside of combat, so it might've been a little more effort, but not too bad. Also the Type 74 had a much larger number of shells directly accessible to the loader with both a bustle rack, floor rack, and ammo rack under the gun similar to the M60A3 will a total of 20 rounds directly accessible by the loader.
Something like what you are describing did carry onto the Type 90 though.
The armored fuel tank rack has 6 rounds raised above the rest for the commander to be able to access easier in an emergency. The gunner also has 4 rounds that sit behind him incase of damage to the autoloading system. No idea about the Type 10 thought since we have no info on the ammo arrangement or even how many rounds it carries.

 

[Foo Fighter]

Thanks mate.

 

[barrett]

日本防衛激変、本州から戦車が消える　対中国シフトは当然だが…

沖縄県・尖閣諸島の領有権を主張し、初のドッグ型強襲揚陸艦の建造にも乗り出すなど中国の軍備拡大が進むなか、自衛隊も装備更新が急がれている。しかし予算の制約などから“しわ寄せ”を受けているのが陸上自衛隊。正面装備のなかでも主力といえる戦車の数が半数以下へと大幅に削減される流れにあり、しかも本州では全廃の可能性が濃くなっている。関西を含む西日本の防衛も大きな変化にさらされようとしている。

www.sankeibiz.jp

According to the National Defense Program Guidelines formulated in 2010, which set guidelines for the development and operation of Japan's defense capabilities over the next 10 years, the number of tanks deployed, which can be called the main force, was to be only 400, a plan to roughly halve the current 760 tanks. However, the new National Defense Program Guidelines, which the government plans to formulate by the end of the year, will further reduce the number to just 300. Moreover, tanks will be deployed intensively in Hokkaido and Kyushu, and the policy is to not deploy tank units in Honshu.

Japan may stop deploying tanks to Honshu

 

[Kota]

One thing that should be clarified is that while the Type 16 is considered a light tank in doctrine by Japan it is not considered a tank in this context. So while "tanks" would be removed from Honshu and a cap on the number will be placed on the number of tanks this won't apply to the Type 16 which will remain on Honshu and have it's production expanded. I searched, but for the life of me can't find the original document that the mod released a while ago showing planned procurement and the total number of Type 16s that they want to produce is either 350 or 500.
If anyone knows which document it is. It also shows planned procurement of the WAPC replacement and Common Wheeled Vehicle if that helps.