The Iveco Consortium Company - Oto Melara (CIO), participated in the 50% by Leonardo, today signed with the Italian Ministry of Defense, at Palazzo Guidoni, headquarters of the General Secretariat of Defense and the National Armaments Directorate, a contract worth 159 million euros for the acquisition of the first 10 units of the new armored vehicle Centauro II. The ceremony was held in the presence of the Secretary General of Defense and National Director of Armaments, Gen. SA Carlo Magrassi, Chief of Staff of the Italian Army, Gen. di Corpo D'Armata, Salvatore Farina, and Director of Armaments Terrestri, Ten. Gen. Francesco Castrataro.
This is a first tranche out of a total of 136 units.
In addition to vehicles, the contract includes also spare parts and logistic support. The share of responsibility for Leonardo amounts to approximately 92 million. The company will be responsible for the development and integration of the complete tower defense system and observation systems, shooting and communication.
The Centaur II represents an important step forward compared to the previous Centauro I in terms of power, observation, mobility, ergonomics, shooting behavior, communication, always guaranteeing maximum crew protection. It is a new generation armored vehicle able to operate in every scenario: from missions to defense of national security, to operations of support and peacekeeping to other operating theaters in which the Armed Forces are called to intervene.
Insight:
The Iveco Consortium Company - Oto Melara (CIO) was born in 1985 with an equal shareholding of Iveco Defense Vehicles, CNH Industrial group, and former OTO Melara, currently Leonardo. Within the Consortium, the Iveco Defense Vehicles has full responsibility for all the vehicular components (engine, gearbox, suspension, etc.), the hull and the final integration of the rotated vehicles, while Leonardo is responsible for the weapon systems , of vision and fire control systems of rotated and tracked vehicles, of the hull and of the final integration of tracked vehicles. Both companies have excellent expertise in the field of direct fire protection, anti-discrimination and anti-IED.