Rumors about Fiat Campagnola AR76: the resources of the FFAA to aid private budgets?

(To Gianluca Celentano)
25/09/19

After reading a March article by General Nicolò Manca (v.link), I wanted to deepen the topic "means" and retort some points by adding some other indiscretion never officially confirmed or critically disclosed. I then interviewed the former Sassari commander, a man who may or may not like him but on whom the common opinion of those who knew him is "a loyal person and excellent Commander".

The first Sardinian commander of the historic Sassari brigade, he is now on leave and lives in Sinnai, in Cagliari.

He seems to have converted his energy as a general into an acute observation of the vicissitudes of the country which he follows promptly, with a certain suffering and an understandable critical sense.

Between the lines, the former Army Chief of Staff, General Goffredo Canino, wrote affectionately in Manca after reading his book: … “I have read, reread From Calamosca to Calamosca In search of an Army”. I reflected on it, to get me a correct idea of ​​your work, of your effort and, above all of your thought and your deep feelings, those that have given you the stimulus for your commitment, that have pushed you to express your suffering and a little bit of your helpless rage, your loneliness. In my opinion the company has succeeded. You have in fact given a voice to a multitude of people, all those of our military generation, who have lived through similar situations, moral hardships and frustrations for many years ".

General Manca went on the news in the 1997 when he resigned as a protest for continued media attacks against the brigade thunderbolt and later in the 2013, he did not remain silent for debatable government decisions against the two Marò prisoners in India, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone. With a striking and objectively rare gesture, he returned the honors of Knight and Commander to the Presidency of the Republic.

A Slavic Fiat Campagnola and the blackmail of Fiat?

I could not escape some biographical mention of the outspoken former commander of Sassari, as the points to be put under the magnifying glass are different, some known, others unknown. Among these is an (unofficial) criticism circulating in the barracks regarding the AR76. I admit that it is new to me too.

It would seem that the well-known Fiat Campagnola AR76 was commissioned by the Slavic Zastava to the Turin group to offer an LTV vehicle - Light Tactical Vehicle - to the army of the former Yugoslavia. A small company operating in the 80 with the cold war.

La Campagnola we have already treated it (v.articolo) and collectors also know well the qualities, defects and characteristics of the vehicle.

A commission - presumably military - rejected the Italian 4x4 for inadequacy for military tasks and Fiat found a massive batch of Fiat at home Campagnola to be disposed of.

If the news were confirmed it would certainly not represent a happy episode for Fiat, on the other hand it is not even the first time that the Turin factory has produced vehicles "unlucky", perhaps for a debut in a wrong period or for a questionable quality than to the competition.

Wheels to heaven but there's more ...

The refusal by the Slavic army towards our 4x4 led, according to the indiscretions, to a sort of force game - known as blackmail formula - between the Fiat management and the Italian Armed Forces: "Either the Italian army buys it or a good number of workers will end up in redundancy".

In addition to the well-known problem of the inclination of joints and cruises, modified later, under the lens - compared to the AR 59 - its load-bearing body is finished: a not insignificant detail - some soldiers recall - for a combat vehicle where a characteristic load-bearing frame is more suitable for a matter of mass and rigidity.

General Manca was the victim of an accident aboard the AR76 set up as a brigade command post and probably with radio - heavy systems - type RV3 and 4 RH5 / 478 stacked one on top of the other, rather than the American antecedents AN / GRC - 3 / 4 / 5.

Due to the bursting of a wheel, the general, along with a field assistant radio marshal and the conducting corporal, turned over during an exercise. The particular frame was among the main defendants as a cause of the accident.

Even the attempt to mount the cc cannon from 106 sr, this is a confirmed reality, had little success because, during the piece's fire, the semi-axle of the vehicle remained damaged differently to what happened on the obsolete but more suitable militarily AR59.

Another note concerns the low range of independent suspensions, which many would have penalized the AR76. However, if the chassis theory were reliable, it seems only right to break a lance in favor of the Fiat campagnola, which as its name represents, was born as a country car, so for gravel even if it offers an appreciable range in a off road light. After all, today, see the VTLM Lince or Humvee, with supporting frame, have independent suspension schemes with angled trapezes and arms that are excellently supplanting the rigid bridges.

In reality his towing capacity was interesting and, even in civilian clothes, the news of trucks stuck and put back on dry ground by the AR76 is not isolated.

ARNA and ACP

Among the news, there are rumors that even the failure of Alfa Romeo Alfa 90Alfa 6Arna (Alfa-Nissan with Alfasud mechanics) has seen a sort of constraint towards the Armed Forces - and local authorities - for the acquisition of the various models.

Even for the Iveco ACP 80 the questions are not few, and there are many to claim that it was an "exaggerated" truck despite a considerable reach without a useful dump truck, a condition that would have relegated it to wasted uses such as transport staff on the floor after the addition of wooden benches capable of accommodating 18 men.

In this regard, in addition to the mechanical Mule and the MTC cart for the Alpini (v.articolo), years 70 and 80, I remember some anonymous confession during the writing of the piece on Iveco MMW135, the ACM80 substitute on a base euro Cargo. It would be curious to dissolve some doubts about the theoreticians 11 million euros invested in the project despite a production limited to some units however a little problematic.

It would seem that Astra had been relieved at a time of crisis thanks to the order for ACTL - based on HD8 and Trakker.

There are basically two curiosities:

Why wasn't a suitable platform for a multi-role logistic truck identified in time?

Has the ACTL project been refinanced with public money?

It would be interesting for the editorial staff to receive an IDV statement about the indiscretion on the 50 new VM90s recently commissioned by the army.

The Armed Forces should be a resource and not a fallback. After listening to different points of view, the general takes a break and confesses his thoughts to me. "One wonders if political class and institutional leaders are aware that a young person who chooses to pursue a military career does not aspire to be a civil protection operator nor to replace specialized companies to asphalt the streets of the capital and even less to take over to traffic police in the control of Roma camps ".

A tradition?

Even Olivetti, after the appointment of the Piedmontese general Luigi Poli as CSE - always according to indiscretions - used Fiat methods to dispose of an adequate batch of PCs left in the Ivrea warehouses. The procurement took the name coined from the naja, of POLIVETTI operation. Apparently its users in the military administration were not enthusiastic about the new low-performance equipment.

Events that surely make you think, as well as the most recent news that would see the Air Force running to the rescue of Piaggio-Aerospace for some examples of P.1HH, remotely piloted aircraft with characteristics that do not meet the current needs of the Blue Army.

Poor bureaucracy and armed forces?

Ambiguity, silence and blame, are certainly fertile ground, in all areas, to move interests sometimes unclear.

Today it is the citizen - even the one with the stars - who demands more clarity and transparency. The press, regardless of the circumstance, should be helped and not boycotted, in order not to remain in fact isolated in its service to the country.

I hope that the exercise of listening to the last and in particular the experts, will not remain an unattainable dream drowned in hypocrisy.

The hope, with the modernization of the FFAA in a European context, is the dismantling of malpractice and the prevalence of wiser and more impartial choices by those who are publicly paid to realize the interest of the country.

Thanks and concrete appreciation to the determination and courage of General Nicolò Manca.

I dedicate the article: to all the commanders and the boys of the units of the Sassari mechanized brigade, "Sa vida pro sa Patria".