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2016-08-01

Centauro II Tank Destroyer

CIO unveils its new Centauro II 8x8 tank destroyer in Paris

The Iveco – Oto Melara Consortium (CIO) unveiled its new Centauro II 8x8 tank destroyer armed with a 120 mm main gun at Eurosatory 2016 in Paris. The Italian Army is planning to buy 136 examples to equip nine cavalry units.

CIO, formed between Iveco Defence Vehicles, a CNH Industrial company, and Leonardo, has been the reference point for the Italian MoD in terms of ground vehicles for over 30 years.

Its origins can be traced back to the early ‘80s when Italy, on the verge of launching a programme to fully renew its combat vehicles park, felt the need for a single industrial interface.

This led in 1985 to the decision to merge the two national land armaments prime companies, Iveco and Oto Melara (now Leonardo), into a consortium with equal participation. Each company brought its capabilities to develop a brand new family of wheeled and tracked vehicles ranging from MBTs to light wheeled APCs.

Iveco Defence Vehicles is responsible for engines, gears and all the automotive components, the hull and the final integration of wheeled armoured vehicles while Leonardo is responsible for weapon systems, sight and fire control systems of both wheeled and tracked vehicles, the hull and the final integration of tracked armoured vehicles.

Both companies have excellent skills in the field of protection against direct fire, mines and IEDs.

CIO has extended its action beyond national borders and has now become a reference on the export market for all those products that include components provided by the two partners.

Speaking at Eurosatory on 14 June, Roberto Cortesi, the president of CIO, said that the new vehicle offered improved mobility, improved protection, networking and firepower over its predecessor, the 30-year-old Centauro.

Centauro II is designed for aggressive reconnaissance in force, with its mobility allowing it to rapidly deploy/evade, and its firepower allowing for the engagement of any enemy at maximum ranges.

The CIO consortium has built more than 1,700 armoured vehicles for the Italian Army, including all its heavy- and medium-weight armour.

The Centauro

Centauro entered production in 1991.

The Centauro MGS - 8X8 Wheeled Main Gun System is a new concept in weapon systems: a real tank on wheels. It has the same sighting capability and the fire power of a last generation Main Battle tank.

The Centauro can reach a max speed of 110 km/h on roads, and meets all NATO mobility standard specifications for obstacles, trench breaching and slope tests, and similar. The vehicle is fitted with run flat tyres allowing it to operate in the most extreme terrain. Low ground pressure allows the vehicle to manoeuvre over rocks, sand, marsh and soft grounds.

All of the Centauro’s MGS features have been extensively tested in extreme environmental conditions including hot, dry deserts; cold and icy Nordic countries and rain forest environment.

The turret can be fitted with 105 mm or 120 mm main weapons which can fire all existing standard NATO kinetic or chemical energy ammunition. The Centauro is the only 8x8 MGS capable of firing both 105 and 120mm main weapons (fully stabilised) on the move and even at 90 degrees to the hull centerline and at depressed elevations.

Around 400 Centauro reconnaissance anti-tank vehicles (tank destroyers) are in service with the Italian Army, while the Spanish Army has 22 Centauro vehicles.

In August 2008, Oman placed an order for six Centauri vehicles which were delivered by mid-2009. The vehicles are the latest version with an upgraded chassis and have a 120mm gun instead of the 105mm gun. Oman ordered three more vehicles in November 2009.

Centauro II

The Centauro II will replace the original Centauro in Italian Army service.

The Centauro II has been designed to fit Italian Army requirements for a vehicle of no more than 30 tonnes gross vehicle weight (GVW), a power-to-weight ratio of 24 hp/tonne (compared with 17 for its predecessor), a maximum road speed of more than 100 km/h, a range of 800 km, and higher ballistic protection that its predecessor.

Centauro II is armed with a 120 mm/45 calibre gun fitted with a semi-automatic loading system, a coaxial 7.62x51 mm machine gun and a Hitrole L remote weapon station (armed with anything from a 7.62 mm machine gun to a 40 mm automatic grenade launcher).

The main gun offers a step-change in performance over the previous Centauro, which was armed with a 105/52 main gun, and is able to fire any NATO-qualified 120 mm smoothbore ammunition, including programmable rounds.

The new gun has greater range, accuracy, and firepower than its predecessor.

The Centauro II’s new turret offers a fire-on-the-move capability, something not offered by the original Centauro. The 120/45 gun is an evolution of the 120/44 gun from the Ariete main battle tank, but has been optimised for low recoil, including the installation of a pepperpot muzzlebreak and other features that reduce the recoil force from 45 tonnes in the Ariete to 25 tonnes in the Centauro II.

The new vehicle has a monocoque ballistic steel hull that has been shaped to offer protection from mine and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). According to Cortesi countering the IED threat faced by Western forces in recent years provided much of the impetus to develop a replacement for the Centauro - which was designed to face Cold War-era high-intensity threats. There are two main armour kits for the Centauro II (A and B), which have already been blast tested on three prototypes.

Centauro II has a four-member crew, a driver, commander, gunner and loader - the last three are situated in the vehicle’s turret.

Incorporated into the turret is a semi-automatic loading system (only the breech remains manually operated) and 12 ready-to-fire rounds (stored in two packs of six) in a separate ammunition compartment. A further 19 rounds are carried in the hull, again in a compartment separated from the crew, while an automatic fire-suppression system further aids survivability.

Significant advances have been made in the Centauro II’s networking ability, with the SICCONIA C2 system being native and integrated directly into the vehicle.

A new and modern man machine interface (MMI) has also being installed as well as a power and health monitoring system. The Centauro II is covered by 13 different antennas including jammers and seven communications systems (operating in the HF, VHF, UHF bands, as well as a satellite communications (SATCOMS) system - UHF and SATCOMS being new additions for the Centauro family).

The vehicle is fitted with a situational awareness system, while the driver has a day/night vision system, the gunner has a Lothar SD sight that operates in the 8-12 µm spectrum (optimised against smoke and dust), while the commander has the new 360° Attila D sight that operates in the 3-5 spectrum (optimised against humidity and fog).

New verses old

The new Centauro armoured vehicle represents a new stage in the evolution of the storied Centauro 105 and 120mm armoured vehicle, the first 8x8 wheeled antitank vehicle in the world with a high-pressure gun.

As regards mobility in particular, the power-to-weight ratio, increased to 24 HP/tonne, provides unequalled performance in terms of speed and acceleration thanks to the new-generation IVECO engine, offering more than 720 HP, and to the associated modernisation of the transmission, braking system and control electronics.

The digital tyre pressure control (CTIS), allied with run-flat systems, the new suspension and the low nominal ground pressure allow the new Centauro armoured vehicle to extricate itself from any type of terrain.

As for ballistic armour, protection levels are significantly higher than in the past, with a completely rearranged hull chassis and turret design, integratable add-on ballistics and technical solutions, tested to the AEP 55 standard, capable of handling threats such as mines, IEDs and the latest-generation kinetic munitions.

Crew safety has also been further increased, with partitioning of stand-by ammunition and stores within the hull, in addition to the state-of-the-art NBC, fire-fighting and anti-explosion systems. As regards ergonomics, the ammunition reserves in the hull are automated, as is the new automatic loading system in the turret.

The third generation 120/45 mm gun (optional 105/52mm interchangeable to 120 mm), with integrated and stabilised low-recoil muzzle brake, provides the same fire power as most modern main battle tanks, with the capability of firing all latest generation 120 mm NATO APFSDS and multi-role MP munitions.

The turret, equipped with new anti-mine seats, has a crew of three men - commander, gunner and loader – with the latter able to use the new automatic loading system, while being able also to undertake manual loading operations, as back-up, or other emergency operations. Optronic equipment includes a panoramic commander’s sight and a gunner’s sight, both latest-generation, and a back-up sight for use in degraded mode. The vehicle is fully network-integrated (for NCW).

In the turret, as an alternative to the external turntable-mounted anti-aircraft machine gun, a remote-operated HITROLE Light turret can be installed, with the possibility of using 7.62 or 12.7 calibre machine guns as well as 40 mm AGLs, integrated with the firing system, allowing the loader to undertake battlefield surveillance from a protected position.

Reference:

www.iveco-otomelara.com

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