- Oto Melara
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Oto Melara is an Italian defence company with factories in Brescia and La Spezia. It was founded in 1905 as a joint venture of Vickers and Terni. During World War I, Vickers Terni produced many weapons with calibre 40 mm and upwards. In 1929 the company was renamed Odero Terni Orlando with the abbreviation Oto. During World War II, mostly heavy guns for battleships were produced. In 1953 the company took the name Oto Melara.
Before Italy joined NATO, Oto Melara produced civil products, like tractors and looms, but quickly returned to the production of weapons. Oto Melara's best-known weapons after World War II are the mountain pack howitzer Model 56, which is in service throughout the world, and the 76/62 ship gun, which has been adopted by 53 navies and is installed on over 1,000 naval vessels.
Today Oto Melara's land defence operations are part of the “Finmeccanica” consortium.
Contents
Main products
Vehicles manufactured include:
- Ariete Main Battle Tank
- Centauro Wheeled Tank Destroyer
- Dardo Infantry Fighting Vehicle
- Puma 6x6 and Puma 4x4 Wheeled Armoured Personnel Carrier
- PzH 2000 Self-Propelled Howitzer
- VBM 8x8 Armoured Personnel Carrier
- Otomatic anti-aircraft tank (SPAAG)
- Palmaria self-propelled artillery (1981)
- OF-40 Main Battle Tank
Weapons manufactured included:
- OTO Melara Mod 56 105/L14 Pack Howitzer
- HITFACT three-man turret armed with a 120mm/45 calibre or 105mm/52 calibre gun
- HITFIST two-man turret armed with a 25 or 30mm automatic cannon and 7.62mm coaxial machine gun (plus two TOW launchers as option)
- HITROLE Remote Weapon Station for 7.62mm or 12.7mm machine gun or 40 automatic grenade launcher
- Otobreda 127/54 Compact naval gun
- Otobreda 127/64 Lightweight naval gun
- 76/62mm Allargato
- Otobreda 76 mm naval gun
- Skyguard "Aspide" Anti-Air missile system
- SIDAM 25 anti-aircraft gun
- DARDO CIWS a twin 40mm naval gun mounting
Ammunition manufactured included:
- Vulcano 155 mm
In the last decade the company has produced between 900 and 1000 GBU-31 and GBU-32 JDAMs on license. At the moment it's working on the production of 500 GBU-39s for the Aeronautica Militare.
The naval defence operations produce a wide range of automatic naval artillery, rocket and missile launchers and remote controlled small calibre defence cannons.
Merger
On 1 December 2001, the naval artillery division of Oto Melara merged with that of Breda Meccanica Bresciana to form the new entity of Otobreda and is now in charged of the production and manufacturing process for DARDO CIWS, Otobreda 76 mm and Otobreda 127/54 Compact naval guns.
References
External links
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