3D Animation: The Very Unconventional Type 11 Machine Gun

The Type 11 light machine gun was a machine gun used by the Imperial Japanese Army in the interwar period and during World War II. It was designed by Japanese arms designer Kijirō Nambu, based on a modification of the French Hotchkiss M1909 machine gun. It was an air-cooled, gas-operated design, using the same 6.5 by 50mm Arisaka cartridges as the Japanese Type 38 infantry rifle. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 had convinced the Japanese of the utility of machine guns. The Army Technical Bureau was tasked with the development of a lightweight machine gun which could be transported by an infantry squad. The resultant “Type 11 light machine gun“ (named after the 11th year of the reign of Emperor Taishō) was the first light machine gun to be mass-produced in Japan and the oldest Japanese light machine gun design to see service in the Pacific War. A unconventional feature of the Type 11 machine gun was its detachable hopper; it could be refilled while attached and did not r