Japanese Type 87 reconnaissance and surveillance vehicle

The Type 87 reconnaissance and surveillance vehicle is a wheeled armored vehicle developed by Komatsu Corporation in Japan and used by the Ground Self Defense Force for reconnaissance purposes. Each division and brigade of the Ground Self Defense Force is equipped with reconnaissance teams and tank company headquarters. The Ground Self Defense Force initially used two types of wheeled armored vehicles, the US M8 armored vehicle and M20 armored vehicle, both of which were only equipped in a few cases and had a short service period. The reason is that at that time (in the 1950s), Japan's road network was poor and most of the main national highways were unpaved. As a domestic mobile wheeled vehicle, its mobility was not strong, and the budget for equipping tracked vehicles such as the Type 60 armored personnel carrier was limited to support another type of vehicle.