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Centauro 105mm Anti-tank armoured vehicle
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The Centauro 105mm is a wheeled tank destroyer designed for light to medium territorial defense and tactical reconnaissance. The vehicle was designed and manufactured by a consortium of Italian Companies IVECO Defence Vehicles and Oto Melara. Iveco Defence Vehicles was tasked with developing the hull and propulsion systems while Oto Melara was responsible for developing the turrets and weapon systems. In the 1980s, the Italian Army drew up its requirements for a complete new family of tracked and wheeled armoured fighting vehicles to meet its future requirements for the 1990s. Early in 1984, the Italian Army formulated its requirements for a new highly mobile wheeled tank destroyer that was required to have a standard NATO 105 mm rifled tank gun. The first complete prototype was finished in January 1987 with the second following in mid-1987 and, by December, four complete vehicles were involved in the trials programme. Prototypes 5 to 9 were completed in 1988 and, in addition, a ballistic hull was built. The prototypes were followed by a preproduction batch of 10 vehicles, which were completed from late-1989. Production of the Centauro commenced late in 1990 with first production vehicles being completed in 1991. In mid-1999, the Spanish MoD awarded the IVECO Oto Melara consortium a contract worth US$70 million for the supply of 22 Centauro (8 × 8) armoured vehicles plus a training and support package. These were brand new vehicles and were delivered to the Spanish Army late in 2000. The Spanish vehicles are the same as those supplied to the Italian Army but will be capable of being fitted with an explosive reactive armour package developed in Spain by Santa Barbara Sistemas. In 2018, Spanish Company SDLE has won a contract to deliver 80 Centauro to the Jordanian army. |
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Variants | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Centauro 120mm: armed with 120mm cannon - Centauro 105mm B1: with add-on armour - Centauro ARV: No turret, blade dozzer at the front of the vehicle and one crane on the top of the hull. - Centauro VBM Freccia: This vehicle is equipped with an Oto Melara HITFIST Plus turret, mounting a 25 mm or 30 mm cannon. |
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Technical Data | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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