Mitsubishi Type 73 light truck (second generation)

The second-generation Mitsubishi Type 73 light truck, called the Shin, began production in 1996 as Mitsubishi Motors started to phase the first-generation Kyu out of production and out of selected service in the Japan Self-Defense Forces, taking the frame of the Mitsubishi Pajero as its basis. It can carry various heavy machine guns and anti-tank missile launchers and, like the Kyu, the Sumitomo M2 machine gun and for the first time the Sumitomo MINIMI light machine gun. Air conditioning is standard on the Shin. When Shin trucks were deployed to Iraq with the Japanese reconstruction group they were bulletproofed. Shin trucks are the version in current Japan Ground Self-Defense Force use, and the first of them reached Ukraine in December 2023 after being provided as military assistance in May 2023. The Kyu are being decommissioned from some frontline units while many remain in service.