Last July 24 the Ministry of Defense signed a contract with the Iveco-Oto Melara Consortium (CIO) for the purchase of a first tranche, on a total requirement of 136 vehicles, of the new heavy armor Centaur II.
The threats present in today's asymmetrical scenarios have highlighted the technical limitations of the old heavy blinds Centaur, especially against IED devices. Hence the development, in the industrial sphere, of the new Centaur, which will constitute the backbone of the brigades Medium of the Italian Army.
Starting from these large units it is interesting to analyze the composition and the future possibilities of use of the new blind.
The mechanized brigade Pinerolo is one of the few large units of the Army that does not have, in its staff, a cavalry regiment, or that type of department that should receive the Centaur II a (partial) replacement of the current blind. It seems likely that this unit, in the near future, assumes a purely exploratory configuration, with three base infantry pawns, the 9 ° and the 82 ° infantry and the 7 ° bersaglieri, while the 31 ° rgt Wagons could incorporate the new blinds. In this case the ideal solution would be to deploy a department on 3 companies / squadrons, with a protection and mobility equivalent (if not superior) to those of Arrow who equip the infantry regiments, but with the firepower of the piece from 120 / 45 mm, thus giving life to homogeneous tactical groups thanks to the net-centric connection.
The mechanized brigade Aosta (probable future Media) has in its staff a cavalry regiment, the 6 ° rgt Aosta Lancers. In this case, a squadron with the new blind could integrate the old ones, increasing the exploring aspect. Compared to the previous model, the Centaur II it has more sensitive sensors and net-centric capabilities to distribute the information collected.
A singular case is represented by the brigade Pozzuolo del Friuli, considered Media but whose workforce is very anomalous as it feeds the National Projection Capacity from the Italian Army Sea. A squadron of new blinds, inserted in the 4 ° rgt Genoa Cavalleria, increase the flexibility and firepower of the Landing Force and contribute to the recognition by strength towards enemy departments equipped with medium vehicles.
Fundamental element that makes the Centaur II an effective means for fire support is the 120 / 45 mm smoothbore piece (the vehicle is classified MGS, Mobile Gun System), with which it is equipped.
In the 2015 the CIO and Rheinmetall verified the compatibility of the DM-11 ammunition with the 120 mm cannon of the new armor. It is a projectile airbust, that is, equipped with a time spool and a pre-fragmented head, capable of generating a cloud of splinters above an infantry array rather than a protected machine-gun post. The ability to set the spool in different modes of operation allows you to have a performing ammunition, able to open breaches in the walls and destroy light armored vehicles, therefore a capacity perfectly suited to the needs of asymmetric theaters, without removing the ability to use in the cannon from 120 / 45 the classic kinetic energy ammunition able to pierce the protection of heavier armor.
Innovations are not limited to armament only. In fact, the installation of a new hyposcope system for the pilot is envisaged as a back-up for the virtual vision system; the quadrichannel SDR radio and the ASID system (Air to Surface IDentification), essential for preventing accidents blue-on-blue with aircraft from close air support. In a second phase the programming system of the ABM ammunition spool will be introduced. With this configuration the ability of the new blind to engage targets of different types will make it Centaur II an ideal companion of the Arrow (photo), given that the KBA machine gun from 25 mm - standard weapon of combat vehicles for Italian infantry both on tracks and on wheels - is ineffective against certain threats present in today's battlefields.
In conclusion it remains to be seen how the new blind will be inserted in the cavalry regiments under the non-Medie brigades, and how many will be assigned instead to the Medium brigades, which certainly need an adequate fire support at a stretch.
(photo: CIO / Army)
