Type 61 Tank

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This article is about the fictional weapon Type 61 Tank, for the real world Type 61 tank, please go to Type 61 instead.

The Type 61 Main Battle Tank is a type of weapon in the animation series Gundam 0079. It was fielded by the Earth Federation in UC 0061 and saw service to at least UC 0079. The tank featured dual 150mm cannons, as well as a 12.7mm machine gun and eight smoke dispensers. After the Zeon forces introduced the Zaku as an effective war machine in the One Year War, the Type 61 became practically obsolete, as their cannons failed to penetrate Zaku armor except at close range. Another disadvantage was that Mobile suits could outmaneuver the slow moving tanks and dodge tank rounds with ease. While greatly lacking as anti-mobile suit weapons, they soon began to become the norm for protecting ground transports from attacks by the Magella Attack Tank and where crucial in the Capture of Odessa and Defense at Jaburo where the Federations armor took most of the burden. There were also a wide selection of variants made for transport and troop deployment.

In the strategy games series Gihren's Greed, the Type 61 functions as the Federal Forces only ground unit until the V-Project is completed. As in the series, the Type 61s are no match for Mobile Suits in equal numbers. However, because they take up much fewer resources than Mobile Suits, it is possible to take back large amounts of captured Earth territory from Zeon by sheer weight of numbers. Needless to say, when in the war's focus shifts into space, the Type 61s become useless (though the Balls perform a similar function spacewise).