Freccia IFV

Freccia

Freccia in Rome
Type Wheeled infantry fighting vehicle
Place of origin Italy
Service history
In service 2006 – present
Wars War in Afghanistan
Specifications
Weight 28 tonnes (31 short tons; 28 long tons)
Length 7.6 m (24 ft 11 in)
Width 2.9 m (9 ft 6 in)
Height 3.0 m (9 ft 10 in)
Crew 3 crew (commander, gunner, driver) + 8 passengers
Armor Welded steel hull with ceramic applications
Main
armament
 25mm Oerlikon KBA (200 rounds)
Secondary
armament
 7.62mm co-axial machine gun (4,000 cartridges), optional 7.62mm anti-air machine gun, 8 smoke generators
Engine IVECO Diesel 5HP-1500 V6
405 kW (560 hp)
Power/weight 22,2 hp/tonne
Suspension hydropneumatic
Operational
range
 800–1,000 km (500–620 mi)
Speed 105 km/h (65 mph)
25–30 km/h (16–19 mph) off road

The Freccia (Italian: Arrow) is an Italian 8x8 wheeled Infantry fighting vehicle in use with the Italian Army. The first batch of 253 vehicles were ordered to replace Cold War VCC-2 armoured personnel carriers in two brigades in Southern Italy. The Freccia is built by a consortium combining Iveco (engine, suspension) and Oto Melara (hull, armament).

The Freccia is up-armoured and revised variant of the wheeled Centauro tank destroyer fitted with the Hitfist Plus turret (an evolution of that used on the Dardo), which is armed with an Oerlikon KBA 25mm automatic cannon and carries 200 rounds of 25mm ammunition. Two 7.62mm NATO machine guns are also fitted. Additionally, a pair of Spike ML/LR anti-tank missiles can be fitted on the turret. The Hitfist Plus turret could theoretically also fit cannons and guns of up to 60mm calibre. Four 80mm smoke grenade launchers are mounted on each side of the turret. The fire control system is the same as for the Centauro reconnaissance/anti-tank version. The Freccia can carry up to eight combat-ready troops. Engineer and Ambulance variants are in development.

In 2006, the Italian government ordered a first batch of 253 Freccia: 172 Freccia with a Hitfist Plus turret, 36 with a Hitfist turret and Spike-LR launchers, 20 Command vehicles, 21 as 120mm mortar carriers (Thomson-Daimler Armements (TDA) 2R2M mortars) and 4 tactical ambulances. The first brigade to receive the Freccia was the Pinerolo Mechanized Brigade.

In 2014, the Italian government ordered a second batch of 381 Freccia: 261 Freccia as standard IFV, anti-tank, command post, mortar carrier and ARV versions and 120 Freccia ISTAR.

Operators

Current operators

See also

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.