The Type 99 Light Machine Gun was a light machine gun produced
by Japan during the Second World War. It entered service in
1939. Because Japan had adopted the 7.7 mm Type 99 Rifle an
accompanying 7.7 mm light machine gun was also developed. The
Type 99 was the basically same design as the Type 96 light
machine gun, but the Type 99 dispensed with the oiler and had
better primary extraction. Early models had a mono-pod at the
stock and a flash-hider at the muzzle which was screwed onto a
threaded portion of the barrel. Like the Type 96, most were
issued with a 2.5 power optical sight. These were often issued
to the best marksmen of the unit and occasionally employed like
a sniper rifle. It also served as a light anti-aircraft gun
occasionally during the war. The gun shares the shape of the
British Bren gun and the Czech ZB26, however, internally it is
quite different from both.