C1 Ariete

C1 Ariete


Development
In 1984, a consortium of Italian companies OTOBREDA Melara and IVECO FIAT was formed to develop a new generation of armoured vehicles for the Italian army. The subject of the project was the infantry fighting vehicle VCC-80 Dardo, the tank fighter B1 Centauro and the C1 ARIETE tank. OTOBREDA - Melara became the main guarantor of the C1 tank development, responsible for the design of the turret assembly and weapon system. IVECO - FIAT was then responsible for the supply of the power unit, transmission and chassis design. The Italian army ordered 200 units of this tank to replace the outdated US types M47 and M60A1.
Development began in 1984. The first development prototype was built in 1986, with six more prototypes following in 1988. The first five production vehicles were delivered for military trials in 1992. In the same year, the C1 tank was accepted into the armament of the Italian Army. This was followed by 18 tanks in 1993. Between 1994 and 1999, production ran at an annual rate of 30 machines. According to some sources, the development of a modernised ARIETE Mk2 type is currently underway.


Description
The tank configuration is of conventional type. The driver's compartment is located in the right front part of the hull. The hull has perpendicular sides and a slightly raised engine compartment at the rear. There are engine ventilation louvres on both sides of the raised engine compartment above the last running wheel. The body is watertight.


The tower is located in the middle of the hull. It is characterised by a very sloping frontal armour, with a 120 mm calibre gun with an internal protective mask. The turret ceiling is flat, with a turret on the right side, a large periscope sight located in front of the turret and a 7,62 mm anti-aircraft machine gun. On the perpendicular side walls of the turret are mounted mounts with smoke grenade launchers, four on each side. The ammunition refill hole is on the left half of the turret. The gunner's sight is located in the right front part of the turret ceiling. The turret is motor-driven. In the right part of the turret is the tank commander's and gunner's station, in the left part is the loader's station.


The hull and turret are welded steel plates. Armour protection is increased in exposed places (hull and turret front) by composite armour. The hull provides the crew with protection from infantry weapons and shrapnel from artillery shells.


The tank's chassis consists of seven running wheels on both sides of the hull. The running wheels are suspended by torsion bars. The drive wheel is at the rear and the tension wheel at the front. The chassis is also equipped with five tensioning pulleys. The upper part of the running gear is protected by side shields.
The tank is characterized by very good off-road passability and driveability on paved roads.


The tank is powered by a 12-cylinder diesel engine, turbocharged IVECO V12 MCTA with an output of 895 kW at 2 300 rpm. Torque transfer from the engine to the chassis is provided by an LSG 3000 automatic transmission with 4 forward and 2 reverse gears. The tank is characterised by very good acceleration, reaching a speed of 32 km/h at a weight of 54 tonnes in 6 seconds.


Weapons and equipment
The main armament of the tank is the 120 mm OTO Melara smoothbore gun. It is equipped with an ejector, a stretch reference system and a thermal insulation jacket. The gun is fully stabilised in two planes. The cannon's aiming range is from -9 degrees to +20 degrees, the aiming range of the whole turret is 360 degrees. The additional armament consists of a 7.62 mm MG 42/59 machine gun coupled to the gun and a 7.62 mm MG 42/59 anti-aircraft machine gun mounted on the turret ceiling.
To create a smoke screen for covertly leaving the battlefield, the tank is equipped with 8 smoke grenade launchers, four on each side of the turret. The cannon is capable of using ammunition identical to that of the LEOPARD 2 and M1A1 tanks, M1A2 ABRAMS. The fire diameter carried is 40 rounds of 120 mm calibre ammunition for the gun and 2,500 rounds of 7.62 mm calibre ammunition for the machine guns.


The tank is equipped with the OG14L3 TURMS (Tank Universal Reconfigurable Modular System) fire control system, supplied by Galileo.
The system consists of:
- a Marconi ballistic computer,
- a stabilised, panoramic, binocular SFIM commander's sight,
- a stabilised, combined gunner's sight,
- an integrated MTL8 neodymium laser rangefinder,
- shooter thermal imager
This system, together with the stabilized 120 mm gun, enables effective firing in motion, at night and in low visibility. The probability of hitting the target with the first shot at a distance of 2 500 m is 75 to 80 %.


Other equipment of the tank consists of a pressurised anti-WMD filter-ventilation device, a fire detection device and an automatic fire-extinguishing system. The driver is equipped with a passive night vision system for night driving. The tank is capable of wading through a water obstacle to a depth of 1.8 m without preparation, to a depth of 2.1 m with preparation and to a depth of 4.0 m with the deep wading attachment.

Sources:
Ing. Miloš Soukup Modern Military Equipment Tanks Volume 1, published by Military System Line s.r.o. as a second unchanged edition in 1999, ISBN 80-85960-00-1.
Christopher F. Foss.
Chris Bishop - The Great Encyclopedia of Modern Military Weapons, published by Svojtka in 2004 as the first Czech edition, ISBN 80-7237-863-5
mainbattletanks.czweb.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariete
http://www.military-today.com/tanks/ariete.htm

zdroj: www.otomelara.it