The adoption of the Ka-Mi amphibious tank design opened up interesting opportunities for the General Staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy, when during a landing from the sea, it became possible to provide fire support with tanks that could go into battle immediately from the sea. The light Ka-Mi, however, did not provide the necessary firepower and did not have sufficient protection. In 1943, a new amphibious tank was created on the basis of the quite successful Chi-He medium tank, which received the designation Type 3 Ka-Chi. To transform into an amphibious tank, the Chi-He underwent a rather deep modernization: the armor plates were dismantled, the suspension was lengthened, equipped with two additional pairs of road wheels and rollers, a tall snorkel appeared over the cover of the engine compartment, and a distinctive dome appeared over the commander’s cupola. The Ka-Chi received front and rear pontoons, as well as a set of rubber plugs to seal the hull. The new amphibious tank successfully passed tests, however, by the beginning of mass production, the situation in the Pacific forced the naval authorities to concentrate all production capacity on the construction of new ships and carrier-based aircraft, therefore, by the end of the war, about two dozen Ka-Chi were produced, none of which were ever used in battle.

Is it a tank or a ship? The appearance of the Ka-Chi is very unusual - as if a patrol boat got out of the water and continued to move on land. Huge pontoons, a high air intake above the engine compartment and a protective casing with portholes over the turret, which looks more like a ship's bridge - all these make the Ka-Chi very much like a participant of War Thunder naval battles!