Type 97 aircraft machine gun

The Type 97 aircraft machine gun was the standard fixed light machine gun mounted on aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War, distinct from other weapons that shared the Type 97 designation such as a heavy tank machine gun and an anti-tank rifle. Built in Japan and fielded from 1937 to 1945, it saw service through the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. It was a short recoil, toggle-locked weapon chambered for the 7.7x56mmR cartridge, weighing 12.6 kilograms and firing from a belt feed at up to 900 rounds per minute, or 600 to 700 rounds per minute when synchronized to fire through a propeller arc.