This morning, the Minister of Defense, Hon. Lorenzo Guerini, and the Army Chief of Staff, Corps General Salvatore Farina, visited the Polygon of the Territorial Technical Office for Terrestrial Armaments (UTTAT) in Nettuno.
The authorities were received by the director of the Ground Armaments Directorate (TERRARM), Lieutenant General Paolo Giovannini, and attended a short briefing with which the director of the shooting range, colonel ing. Roberto Di Costa, illustrated the activities carried out by the UTTAT.
The visit continued at the Command Place (PC) digitized, set up by the 82 ° "Torino" infantry regiment, unit of the "Pinerolo" mechanized brigade designated to develop the ambitious and innovative "Forza NEC" (Network Enabled Capabilities) project on the field, where guests were able to follow a company in practice on Medium armored vehicle (VBM) "Freccia" conducted in the Polygon of Torre Veneri (LE), more than 400 km away. This demonstrates the complete interconnection capacity in remote, remote, Joint, Multifunctional and Cyber that the Army can also express on mobile platforms such as the Medium Multi-role Tactical Vehicle (VTMM) "Bear", in version Command Place digitized "Mobile".
Subsequently, the authorities moved, aboard Lightweight Multirole Tactical Vehicle (VTLM 2) "Lince" equipped with remote turret "Hitrole" and on the new armored bus "Centauro 2", modern and digitized weapon systems that guarantee greater protection to our soldiers.
Attention was then turned to the "Ariete" tank, and to the 155/22 mm PzH 2000 self-propelled vehicle, the latter supplied to the Army Artillery departments, which has a very sophisticated enslaved firing control system to a ballistic calculator, which can count on the inertial navigator and GPS, as well as an automatic loading mechanism that allows rate of fire up to 3 shots in 10 seconds or 20 shots in 3 minutes.
The visit to the Neptune Polygon ended with the signing of the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff of the Army on the Roll of Honor of the Territorial Technical Office for Terrestrial Armaments.
The platforms used in today's demonstrations are part of the Armed Forces' modernization project, in order to bridge the capacitive-technological gap accumulated over the years by the Army, starting and supporting programs such as: Individual Combat System (SIC) "Safe Soldier"; the "busway Centauro 2", whose renovation is planned for 150 platforms; the New Exploration and Escort Helicopter (NEES) which, with 48 new platforms, will replace the current A-129 "Mangusta"; the Light Utility Helicopter, already contracted for the first 15 units; the Medium armored vehicle (VBM) 8 × 8 "Freccia" to continue the supply; the Lightweight Multirole Tactical Vehicle (VTLM) "Lince 2 NEC", replacing the current 1700 VTLMs in service; the renewed "Ariete" wagons, of which 3 prototypes due for delivery by 2021.
Another important program to be developed concerns Command and Control, digitization and cyber capabilities, in harmony with what is defined in the strategic concept of the Chief of Defense. The "Bear-Mobile Command Post" VTMM fits into this segment.
