The Dardo is an

infantry fighting vehicle An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle and armoured personnel carrier used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct fire, direct-fire suppo ...

designed for the

Italian Army The Italian Army ( []) is the Army, land force branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China and Italo-Turkish War, Libya. It ...

as a replacement for the

M113 The M113 is a fully tracked armored personnel carrier (APC) that was developed and produced by the FMC Corporation. The M113 was sent to United States Army Europe in 1961 to replace the mechanized infantry's M59 APCs. The M113 was first used ...

APC. It is designed and built by the Iveco Fiat Oto Melara Syndicated Company based in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Iveco Iveco S.p.A., an acronym for Industrial Vehicles Corporation, is an Italian multinational transport vehicle manufacturing company with headquarters in Turin, Italy. It designs and builds light, medium, and heavy Commercial vehicle, commercial veh ...

is responsible for the hull and propulsion systems, while Oto Melara is responsible for the weapons and fire control systems.

Description

Armament

The Dardo is primarily armed with the 25mm

Oerlikon KBA The Oerlikon KBA is a 25 mm caliber, 25 mm (25×137mm) autocannon which was developed as a close range multipurpose weapon for the mechanised battlefield. It was originally made by Oerlikon (now Rheinmetall Air Defence, Rheinmetall AG), and is cur ...

automatic cannon firing 600 rounds per minute, with 200 rounds of ready to fire ammunition stored in the turret. Two 7.62mm NATO machine guns are also installed in the turret, one coaxially mounted with the main gun. Five rifle ports, two on each side of the hull and one in the rear are provided to allow troops inside to use their personal weapons, if needed. Fire control is provided by the Galileo Avionica

Hitfist Oto Melara Hitfist is a two-man turret for armored vehicles developed by the Italian Oto Melara company. The turrets are designed to mount a 25mm Oerlikon KBA or 30/40mm ATK Mk44 Bushmaster II autocannon. The main armament may mount a co-axia ...

integrated fire control system, which is capable of measuring target speed and range. The commander is provided with six episcope sights, which provide 360° field of view. The cupola can be further fitted with a panoramic stabilised sight. Additionally, a laser range finder and a thermal imager are provided for the gunner. The commander is equipped with a monitor that displays the view from the gunner night vision system. For dealing with heavy armoured threats, two

BGM-71 TOW The BGM-71 TOW ("Tube-launched, Optically tracked, wire-guided missile, Wire-guided", pronounced ) is an American anti-tank missile. TOW replaced much smaller missiles like the SS.10 and ENTAC, offering roughly twice the effective range, a more ...

anti tank missiles can be installed, one on each side of the turret. These missiles have a maximum range of approximately 4 km.

Self protection

The Dardo hull is built from welded aluminum alloy with add on steel armour plates for increased protection. Over the frontal arc, the vehicle is protected against 25mm APDS projectiles. The side armour protects against 14.5mm API projectiles. Four 80mm smoke grenade launchers are installed on each side of the turret.

Propulsion

The Dardo is powered by an Iveco V6 turbo-charged after-cooled diesel engine delivering 512 hp (382.2 kW). This drives a ZF-designed automatic

transmission system In telecommunications, a transmission system is a communication system that transmits a signal from one place to another. The signal can be an signal (electrical engineering), electrical, fiber-optic communication, optical or radio wave, radio s ...

, which is manufactured under license by Iveco Fiat. The transmission system has four forward and two reverse gears, and incorporates the steering system and the hydraulic retarder. The running gear consists of six dual rubber-lined road wheels, with three return rollers on each side and connector type tracks. The suspension consists of a torsion bar, bumper and a hydraulic shock absorber on each suspension arm. Disc brakes on each of the final drives controlled by a transmission retarder provide the braking. Together, this allows the Dardo to achieve speeds in excess of 70 km/h, maneuver on gradients of more than 60% and ford waters up to a depth of 1.5 m.

Future variants

The Dardo IFVs currently in service with the Italian Army are fitted with the "

" IFV turret. The chassis is intended to be the basic model of a family of vehicles, which may include a 120 mm mortar carrier, command (C3I) vehicle, ambulance and light tank with a 105mm gun turret.

Combat history

Dardo IFVs were deployed with the Italian Army as part of the Italian contribution to

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

in 2004. 10 were also deployed in Afghanistan to reinforce the Italian Battlegroups there. Also, some are in use with the Italian

UNIFIL The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (; ), or UNIFIL (; ) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission established on 19 March 1978 by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426, and several further resolutions in 2006 to con ...

contingent.

Operators

Video of 1st Bersaglieri training in 2021 * – 200 vehicles ** 1st Bersaglieri Regiment, Bersaglieri Brigade "Garibaldi" ** 8th Bersaglieri Regiment, Bersaglieri Brigade "Garibaldi" ** 11th Bersaglieri Regiment, Armored Brigade "Ariete"

External links

Official Website

Infantry fighting vehicles of Italy Tracked infantry fighting vehicles Iveco vehicles OTO Melara Military vehicles introduced in the 1990s Infantry fighting vehicles of the post–Cold War period