Although the Japanese Army widely employed tanks within the Pacific theater of war, the tanks that Allied forces in the Pacific faced were mostly older designs, such as the Type 95 Ha-Go light tank and Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank. As the war progressed the Japanese built tanks and self-propelled guns to match up against the Allied tanks. These included the Type 1 Ho-Ni I tank destroyer with a 75 mm gun designed as self-propelled artillery and the Type 2 Ho-I Infantry Support Tank, for the close-fire support role; providing Type 97 equipped tank regiments with additional firepower against enemy armored fighting vehicles. However, they were only produced in limited numbers. The most modern Japanese tanks, such as the Type 3 Chi-Nu medium tank were delayed by material and production shortages. Even after they started to come out of the factories, doctrine called for them to be held for the defense of the mainland.