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  • 3 weeks later...

SALUT

Un article intéressant sur les évolutions de forces italiennes et la mise en service du VBC FRECCIA

Vehicle Revolution

26-Ton Freccia To Lead Italy's Shift to Medium-Weight Brigades

By tom kington

Published: 6 October 2008 Print | Email

ROME - By the end of the year, 14 six-wheeled armored vehicles will be delivered to the Italian Army at its experimental base in Puglia, a low-key launch for a revolution that planners say will transform the service into a more mobile, expeditionary and networked force.

The 26-ton Freccia, built by Italian firms Oto Melara and Iveco, represents the Italian Army's costliest program, with a first planned order of 249 vehicles running to 1.5 billion euros ($2.2 billion), and a final total order of 900 eyed by generals. But they believe it is the key to taking the Army into the 21st century.

"The Freccia is fundamental to the Italian Army's shift to medium-weight brigades that are network-enabled, making it our most important program," said Col. Angelo Palmieri, chief of the General Planning Branch within the Italian Army General Staff.

The Freccia, or Arrow, which was originally known by the acronym VBC and is now referred to as the VBM, shares the chassis of the Centauro wheeled tank already in Army service, but is armed with a 25mm cannon and can transport up to eight soldiers, as well as three crew. A 550-horsepower diesel engine gives a top speed of 110 kilometers per hour.

The first 14 vehicles will arrive at the Army's Experimental Digitised Unit in Alta Mura in Puglia by year end with the total rising to 54 in 2010, including combat and command post versions, as well as two prototypes - an anti-tank version and a mortar carrier.

At Alta Mura, officials are testing the Italian SIACCON command-and-control system set for the Freccia and other Army vehicles, which is designed to link the soldier on the ground with a separate, regiment level C2 set-up.

While the Freccia serves as the key platform for the digitization of the Army, three heavy Army brigades, the Sassari, Pinerolo and Aostam, also will be rebuilt around it, transforming them into medium brigades. This is part of a drive to end overreliance on light brigades that lack combat power and heavy brigades that drag a slow, long logistics tail.

"Stabilization and reconstruction operations are also a reality today and medium forces are integral to this," Palmieri said.

Each of the reshaped brigades will boast three regiments operating the Freccia, for a total of about 230 of the vehicles per brigade. About 160 of that total will be combat version Freccias, the remainder split among command post, mortar, anti-tank, recovery vehicle and engineering versions.

A fourth regiment in each brigade will contain the Centauro wheeled tank and the Puma scout vehicle. The brigades could also receive an 18-ton European version of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle that Iveco is developing with Germany's Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. The first prototype will be delivered to the Army in the first half of 2009, and could be priced "under 1 million euros," an Army official said.

The three brigades set to change status will join the Pozzuolo del Friuli brigade, which already operates the Centauro, to make four medium brigades by 2031, said Palmieri. One other heavy brigade, the Granatieri di Sardegna, will be transformed into a light brigade, meaning that of six heavy brigades today only two will be left by 2031, the Garibaldi and the Ariete, operating tracked Dardo vehicles and the Ariete tank.

Palmieri said the move toward the wheeled Freccia underscores the Army's approach to urban peace enforcing.

"Wheels are less invasive in cities, and less likely to alienate populations than tracks," he said. "Also, if you need to help people rebuild a city, it makes less sense to damage it with tracks."

Gianandrea Gaiani, director of the Bologna-based defense publication Analisi Difesa, said, "There is a need to render the Army more deployable, while digitization will increase interoperability with allies.

Still a Role for Tracks

"The Army's tracked vehicles will, however, continue to have a value. The absence of the Italian Dardo tracked vehicle during combat in Nassiryah in Iraq had a negative impact," he said. "Even in urban peacekeeping operations, Italy has seen how tracked vehicles can be required."

The first deadline in the run-up to 2031 is to have a first networked Freccia regiment up and running by 2012, set to be the 82nd regiment of the Pinerolo brigade. The first combined exercises could be carried out in 2012 or 2013, with the transformation of the entire Pinerolo regiment likely completed by 2018, combining with Italy's Amphibious Landing Force to create what is called the Forza NEC, or Network Enabled Capability Force.

Officials say they are quietly confident in making progress on procurement of the vehicle, despite cuts to defense spending promised by the Italian government. ■

defensenews.com

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ola' Capitao, est-ce que les vieux M113 lusitaniens doivent à terme être remplacés par les Pandur ?

Sinon par quoi sont-ils sensés être remplacés, et dans quels délais ?

Merci

plus 170 depasse les 20 ans et une autre partie sur 230 ont mois de 15 ans on prevoit les moderniser pour 09ou 2010 les pandur ne les renplace pas  ,le pandur remplace les chaimites qui sont largement en fin de vie
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  • 2 weeks later...

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