OTO Melara Gorgona R2.5

     Notes: Described by its crews as an "armored sports car," the Gorgona was designed for rapid road reconnaissance and some off-road work.  It is basically an automobile with armor, night vision devices, amphibious capability, and armament.  The relatively innocuous appearance is deliberate, the Gorgona being designed for use by Gendarmerie-type forces, and meant to operate in society without a threatening appearance like a standard military vehicle would present. The weapon mount on the roof above the commander's position can mount any weapon designed for an NLT or NMT; a typical weapon is shown below.  This weapon can be aimed and fired by the commander without having to expose himself, though the commander must open the hatch and expose himself to reload the weapon.  The crew can also hook extended belts to the weapon. The engine is in the rear and there is a large trunk up front; the engine is a 95-horsepower Fiat 8144 82.200 diesel.  The suspension uses all-wheel drive with four-wheel disc antilock braking. The transmission is automatic and the Gorgona has power steering and power brakes. The Gorgona is amphibious without preparation and is aided by waterjets in the rear. Armor is aluminum and is shaped to further the non-threatening appearance. The windows are made of bullet-resistant glass. The only users of this vehicle are the Italian Carabinieri, Oman, and Saudi Arabia.

Iveco Fiat/OTO Melara B1 Centauro

     Notes: Also known as the Centauro Reconnaissance Anti-Tank, the B1 Centauro was developed in response to an Italian Army requirement for a tank destroyer with the firepower of the Leopard 1 then in service with the Italian Army, but with greater mobility and lighter weight. The primary mission of the B1 Centauro is to provide fire support for cavalry and infantry units, and to protect them against enemy tanks and mobile guns. The B1 Centauro is half the weight or less of most main battle tanks and the high power-to-weight ratio gives it excellent mobility, even off-road. Fire control is excellent with the Galileo Avionica TURMS system (the same fire control system as on the Ariete tank), and the gun is fully stabilized. The B1 Centauro has seen combat service in Lebanon, former Yugoslavia, and Somalia, as well as during Iraqi Freedom by both the Italians and Spanish. (Spanish Centauros are designated VRCC-105 Centauro.) Other users of the B1 Centauro include Jordan, Oman (Centauro 120mm) and Brazil. Centauro entered production in 1991 and deliveries of the B1 were complete by 2006. Both the Russians and the US have tested the Centauro; the Russians tested three, one with the standard B1 Centauro configuration, one Centauro 120mm, and one equipped with a Russian 125mm main gun. This potential deal was scuttled by sanctions after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.  The US tested 16 B1 Centauros in a Striker Brigade at Ft Lewis which was part of 2ID, for the role eventually filled by the M1128 MGS. The Centauros were returned to Italy in 2002. Columbian company CONPES visited OTO Melara in 2012 to talk about Centauros, but no orders were placed.

     There are two hatches on the turret for the gunner and commander, and one on the front deck for the driver.  The Centauro can ford 1.5 meters with no preparation, but is not amphibious.  The vehicle has an independent auxiliary power unit for basic electrical needs, thus saving fuel while idling.  The Centauro is equipped with NBC protective filtration integrated with the vehicle’s air conditioner and heater.  The gunner and commander share a stabilized thermal imager (both may use it at the same time, but they will have the same field of view). The Centauro is powered by a 520-horsepower Iveco V6 turbodiesel engine. The transmission is automatic.  The 8x8 suspension has independent suspension for each wheel. run-flat tires, central tire inflation regulation, and disc antilock brakes on all wheels.  Steering is done with the first and second axles, and at speeds below 25 kmh, (Com Mov 35) also on the fourth axle. At low speeds, the Centauro can turn a 9-meter radius circle.

     Due to the Centauro’s turret blow-out panels, any turret hit that results in an ammunition explosion does not automatically kill the crew and destroy the vehicle.  Instead, consider all turret weapons, sensors, and electronics to be damaged and inoperative.  Then apply 50 points of concussion damage to the commander, gunner, and loader.  (Hull hits which cause an ammunition explosion still destroy the vehicle and kill the crew; 14 rounds are stored in the turret, and 26 in the hull.) Armor is steel, and applique armor is available. There are four smoke grenade launchers on each side of the turret, and the turret is also equipped with a laser warning receiver. There are attachment lugs on the turret front and hull front for reactive armor.

     The B1 Centauro is armed with the OTO Melara 150mm/52, a locally developed variant of the L7/M68/NATO-compatible 105mm gun.  It is heavily buffered and compensated, with multiple recoil buffers and a large pepperpot-type muzzle brake.  The gun can fire all 105mm NATO-compatible rounds. To the right of this on the gun mantlet is the coaxial MG42/59 7.62mm machinegun, an adaptation of the MG42 in 7.62mm NATO. A second such machinegun is on a pintle in front of the loader’s hatch.  The commander has a pintle-mounted M2HB heavy machinegun; optionally, this pintle could be faced with a light U-shaped gun shield granting AV1 to the front. The main gun and coaxial machinegun may be fired by the gunner or the commander, as the commander has auxiliary controls in his cupola. There is a 6kW APU for running systems while the engine is off, to conserve fuel.

The B2 Centauro

     The quest for an upgraded B1 Centauro began in 2000, with nine prototypes of an up-gunned Centauro bring developed.  They were not a success; the full-power OTO Melara 120/44 (a NATO-compatible 120mm cannon also used on the Ariete main battle tank) was too much for the light B1 Centauro chassis to handle.  Development stalled, until a more urgent request was put in by the Italian Army.

     In 2011, a more developed proposal was put forth by CIO (the consortium of Iveco and OTO Melara).  This was a heavier vehicle, partially because of the larger turret, partially because of upgraded armor and systems, and partially from a more robust chassis. In 2015, a contract for production was signed by CIO and the Italian government, and this became the B2 Centauro.

     The chassis was substantially strengthened and upgraded, with the wheels, axles and suspension extended outwards and beefed up. Though this was meant, along with a V-hull, to increase mine and IED protection, it had along with the increased weight the effect of providing a base that could handle the OTO Melara 120/44 NATO-compatible 120mm cannon. The hull is divided into three sections, each with an automatic fire and explosion detection and suppression system; the turret is also so protected. The power pack is in the front, along with one fuel tank; ammunition and main fuel tanks are in the rear, while the center has the turret.  The hatch and position setup are the same as the B1 Centauro, but there is also a door at the rear of the vehicle for emergency exits and to replenish the ammunition supply. The turret carries 12 rounds of the main gun ammunition supply, in a bustle with blow-out panels like those of the B1 Centauro.  The remaining 19 rounds are in the rear compartment of the vehicle along the outer walls. The coaxial machinegun is the Italian-standard MG42/59; the loader has another pintle-mounted MG42/59.  The commander has a HITROLE L2R RWS mounting the M2HB machinegun; this weapon may be aimed and fired from under armor and uses extended belts of ammunition, with 400 rounds ready to fire.  The HITROLE RWS also has a set of 16 80mm smoke grenade launchers. The HITROLE may be aimed and fired by the commander or gunner, using downlinked sights on monitors.

     Armor protection consists of a composite ballistic ceramic/steel sandwich on the frontal arcs, along with spaced ceramic faced with thin steel for the side arcs, giving the B2 Centauro excellent protection for its weight.  Two levels of applique armor are available. The B2 Centauro is equipped with a Jammer Guardian H3 system which blocks radio and cell communications within 30 meters, stopping for example signals sent to IEDs and remotely detonated mines within the 30-meter radius of the Centauro using a task roll of 14. The smoke grenade launchers may be slaved to the RALM laser warning receivers to trigger them automatically is a targeting beam is detected, or to give a simple alarm with the smoke grenades command detonated by the commander or gunner. The B2 Centauro has two radio jamming antennas that can jam enemy broadcasts (if the frequency is known) on a DIF: Intelligence or Electronics roll from the commander. The B2 Centauro may continue to move at full speed even if it has lost two wheels due to damage, and the tires are run-flat; the B2 Centauro may move at half speed even if all eight tires are flattened. The B2 Centauro is equipped with NBC protective filtration integrated with the vehicle’s air conditioner and heater. The Centauro is equipped with an optical chemical sniffer and a Radiac meter on the turret roof. Development is being conducted of an APS (for the B2 Centauro and the Ariete main battle tank) for the B2 Centauro, and the electrical bus is already able to handle the load of an APS. The B2 Centauro can also have lugs installed for ERA, based on experience with ERA on the B1 Centauro in Somalia; this ERA is based on the British ROMOR-A.

     The B2’s optics and fire control have been upgraded, giving the commander and gunner a hunter/killer capability.

     The B2 Centauro is powered by an 8V Iveco-FPT VECTOR 720 hp multifuel engine which may use diesel (the normal fuel in Italian service), gasoline, aviation gasoline, kerosene, alcohol, or JP8 jet fuel. The engine is fuel-injected and has a 20-liter displacement, and meets modern European emission standards. The exhausts are designed to suppress the IR signature and gives the B2 Centauro IR Suppression effects. Turning radius at low speed is 9 meters, and the driver may use a central tire pressure regulation system. The B2 Centauro has a vehicle state system, displayed on LCD screens at each crewmembers’ stations, as well as information at the commander’s station from a BMS and GPS navigation system. There is a 6kW APU for running systems while the engine is off, to conserve fuel.

Other Variants and Derivatives

     In the late 1990s, OTO Melara designed an upgraded version of the Centauro called the Centauro 120mm.  This version is armed with a 120mm low-pressure L/45 cannon, which, while it does not have the range of a NATO-standard 120mm gun, does have greater damaging power than the B1 Centauro’s 105mm gun.  This variant placed that gun in a new turret which was equipped with composite frontal armor and upgraded armor for the rest of the vehicle.  This is the variant used by Oman.  The Centauro 120mm was also used to test components for the B2 Centauro which was being developed at the time.

     The Centauro 155/39 Porcupine is an addition to the Centauro line that first appeared in a parade in 2011, but has yet to enter production as of September of 2024.  The Porcupine is a self-propelled howitzer version of the B1 Centauro, meant to be much lighter, more transportable, and more automated than the PzH-2000s that the Italian Army currently uses (it was to have supplemented, but not replaced, all PzH-2000s in Italian service. The B1 hull is topped with a massive turret which houses the main gun and an autoloading system for it, along with the ammunition. The crew themselves consist of only two members, with the driver in the normal place and the commander/gunner in the turret, with much of his normal work automated through the use of an autoloader and fire control computers. The commander/gunner selects the mode of fire through LCD touchscreens to control rate of fire, ammunition to be fired, and method of fire, including charges to be used.  Single round fire, semiautomatic fire, automatic fire, and MRSI missions may all be selected. The commander/gunner plots fire using GPS and computerized maps loaded into the computer’s memory.  The Porcupine includes a full BMS to integrate the vehicle into the unit’s master tactical fold. The Porcupine is armed with the FH70 155/39 howitzer, and is compatible with all NATO, Chinese, and Israeli 155mm howitzer rounds. The turret has slightly less of the level of protection as the B1’s turret level of protection, but the hull has significant beefing up to increase mine resistance, and the suspension has been strengthened to deal with the howitzer’s recoil. The howitzer itself has significant recoil recuperation, and also is tipped with a large pepperpot-type muzzle brake. Elevation of +75 degrees and depression of -5 degrees can be reached with the howitzer, but the turret only can be traversed left and right 15 degrees from the center, as more than that would potentially tip over the vehicle during firing.  First shots can be conducted withing three minutes of reaching a firing position. A sustained fire rate of 8 rounds per minute is possible. The Porcupine would probably have been equipped with the B1’s 6kW APU. The B1’s applique armor cannot be mounted on the Porcupine.

     The Draco, in real life, existed only as an unfinished prototype, with a B1 hull and mock-up turret.  The Draco was to be armed with the OTO Melara 76mm OTOmatic autocannon, fed by 12-round revolver-type magazines in the turret, and able to use all standard 76mm OTOmatic ammunition as well as guided DART ammunition, C-RAMtype ammunition, and a special top-attack round, all of which were being devised for this vehicle. The advanced optics and fire control of the B1 Centauro would have been carried over to the Draco.  The Draco was to be mostly used in an antiaircraft role, though it also had considerable use as an antiarmor platform, especially with the top-attack ammunition under development, and in an anti-bunker/fortification role. The Draco was to have had a vehicle state system, displaying on LCD touchscreens the vehicle’s mechanical and armament readiness. The Draco would probably have been equipped with the B1’s 6kW APU. The B1’s applique armor cannot be mounted on the Draco.

     OTO Melara tested the SIDAM25 turret on a B1 Centauro chassis. Such a vehicle would have had more speed and agility than the standard B1 Centauro due to much lesser weight. This setup was rejected by the Italian military, along with another antiaircraft turret, the Canadian ADATS turret.  The ADATS turret was rejected early in the process, while it was still a paper study. Except for the B1 Centauro hull, the setup would have been similar to the M113 mounting. After the rejection by the Italian Army, the projects were dropped, with only the Centauro SIDAM25 prototype being built.

     The VBM Freccia (Italian Wheeled APCs) and the Centauro VBM Recovery are also variants of the B1 Centauro chassis.