Type 89 (7.7 mm)

Description

The Type 89 is the IJA's standard issue machine gun, similar to the Vickers E machine gun. Note that the Type 89 is indistinguishable from the IJN's Type 97, so you can expect the same belts and performance from the two. These guns have a lower rate of fire than other rifle-calibre machine guns, have decent ballistics, and have low jamming probability when upgraded. However, the total damage output of these guns is rather low, and you'll have to deal with poor belts and terrible rounds. These guns have one strong side at lower BRs however. Compared to the Type 92, the flexible 89 is a great defensive turret. On planes like the J1N1, Ki-32, and F1M2, these guns wreak havoc due to the sheer number of AP rounds in the belt, which tear through biplanes. These turrets always have at least two guns in the same postion, sometimes even four (J1N1)!

General info

Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.

Available ammunition

Default: T / AP / Ball / AP / IAI / I

Universal: T / AP / IAI / AP

Tracers: T / T/ T/ AP

Stealth: I / AP / AP / AP / IAI

Stealth is a great choice because your enemy won't see you coming, and these guns are always mounted in the nose (except on the B6N1 Model 11 and Ki-32) and are easy to aim. Stealth won't often light fires, but its AP rounds will get to work and sooner or later hit the pilot or snap off a wing.

Comparison with analogues

Not many weapons rival the poor firepower of this gun, but some reserve machine guns like the Mle 33 or MAC 1934 are worse. German rifle-calibres will always outperform it and often set fires, while British machine guns are very similar in performance. The American Browning jams very quickly, so keep that in mind, as you are still superior to other nations in terms of the rifle-calibre machine guns.

• MAC 1934: Bad firepower compared to the 89s, but excellent rate of fire
• Browning/Swedish Browning: Better firepower, however it is quick to jam
• MG 15/17/81: Better firepower, belts, rate of fire, and performance
• ShKAS: Jam very quickly, poor accuracy

Usage in battles

These guns suffer from stock belts, however no other belt option has too much of a difference. These guns rely less on getting shots in but rather on chipping away at the most vital parts of the plane. The opponents you will face with these guns are almost always unarmoured biplanes or early monoplanes. However, early bombers will brush off these bullets easily, you may empty your entire ammo stowage before destroying a single bomber. One excellent tactic is aiming for the wings or engines, but most importantly, pilots. You need to remember that at higher BRs, these guns do little, so don't rely on them for anything when you have cannons available to use, though they can be used to knock out ground targets while saving your precious cannon ammunition.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Mounted in the nose, unlike British and some German counterparts
• Good turret firepower at lower BR
• Good ammo count
• Won't jam too quickly

Cons:

• Low damage output
• Bad Belts
• Wont do anything to bombers
• No incendiary potential

History

Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />.

Media

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See also

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• reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

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Aircraft machine guns
USA
7.62 mm	Browning · M134 Minigun
12.7 mm	GAU-19 · M2 Browning · M3 Browning
Germany
7.62 mm	MG3
7.92 mm	MG 15 · MG 17 · MG 81
12.7 mm	FN M3P
13 mm	MG 131
USSR
7.62 mm	DA · GShG-7.62 · PKT · PV-1 · ShKAS
12.7 mm	A-12.7 · Berezin UB · TKB-481 · YaK-B
Britain
7.62 mm	FN 60.30 · L8A1
7.7 mm	Browning · Lewis · Vickers E · Vickers K
Japan
7.7 mm	Te-1 · Type 89 · Type 89 'special' · Type 92 · Type 97 navy
7.92 mm	Type 1 · Type 98
12.7 mm	Ho-103 · Ho-104
13 mm	Type 2
13.2 mm	Type 3
China
12.7 mm	QJK99-12.7-1
Italy
7.7 mm	Breda-SAFAT · Lewis
7.92 mm	FN Browning
12.7 mm	Breda-SAFAT · FN M3M · Scotti
France
7.5 mm	Darne 1933 · Fabrique Nationale Mle 38 · FN Browning · MAC 1934 · MAC 1934T · Mle 33 · Mle 1923
7.62 mm	PKA
7.92 mm	FN-Browning M.36 No.3 · FN-Browning M.36 No.4
Sweden
7.7 mm	FN-Browning M.36 No.3
8 mm	Ksp m/22 · Ksp m/22 Fh · Ksp m/22 Fv · Ksp m/22-37 R
12.7 mm	Akan m/39A · Akan m/40 · Akan m/45 · LKk/42
13.2 mm	Akan m/39 · Akan m/39A