BTR "KENTAVR"

2024 Author: Matthew Elmers | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:49

In 1984, the command of the Italian army formulated requirements for a highly mobile wheeled tank destroyer armed with a 105-mm rifled cannon in ballistics similar to those of the Leopard -1 and M60A1 tanks. The aiming system of the gun was to be unified with the fire control systems of the promising main battle tank "Ariete" and tracked BMP VCC-80. The terms of reference were developed as part of a comprehensive program for rearmament of the ground forces. Heavy armored vehicles were assigned the role of main battle tanks.

Work on the "wheeled tank" began by OTO Melara and Fiat at the end of 1984 and was based on the experience of its creation in 1982-1983. armored car Fiat 6636 with a 6x6 wheel arrangement. The installation of a turret with a 105 mm cannon increased the mass of the vehicle by at least 6-7 tons, so a fourth had to be added to the three axles so that the vehicle's passability would not deteriorate. The choice of the vehicle's overall dimensions was dictated by an intractable compromise between the need for a larger internal volume of the hull to accommodate the turret and the restrictions imposed by the dimensions of the cargo compartment of the C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft.

In April 1985, testing of a demo vehicle without reservation began. The main purpose of the tests was to develop the chassis, especially the new hydropneumatic suspension of the wheels, and to check the layout of the machine with regard to the ease of maintenance of the 105-mm cannon.

The first B-1 vehicle with full armor and armament was submitted for testing in January 1987, followed by five more by the end of the year. In total, ten B-1 armored vehicles of an experimental batch took part in the tests. In 1990, the Italian armed forces received the first ten armored vehicles B-1 "Centaur", and in 1991 their full-scale production began at the IVECO Fiat plant in Bolzano with a production rate of ten vehicles per month.

BM B1 Centaur

It should be noted that the armored car B-1 "Centaur" occupies a special place among armored wheeled vehicles. Formally, it is classified as a BRM - a combat reconnaissance vehicle, but that is not entirely correct. The extremely powerful armament for a wheeled vehicle (105-mm rifled gun with a high initial projectile velocity) makes it possible to remove quotation marks from the expression "wheeled tank" in relation to this vehicle, especially since in the Italian army "Centaurs" replaced the American M47 tanks. …

The body of the armored car is welded from steel armor plates of various thicknesses. In the frontal part, the armor is resistant to hitting 20-mm shells, from the stern and sides - to hitting bullets of 12.7 mm caliber. The engine compartment is located in the front of the hull on the right side. The engine is a six-cylinder water-cooled turbocharged diesel engine IVECO Fiat MTSA V-6 with a capacity of 520 hp. with. In addition to the Centaur armored vehicles, various V-6 diesel variants are installed on the VCC-80 tracked infantry fighting vehicles, the Argentinean TAM tank and the Italian Ariete main battle tank. The machine uses a West German automatic six-speed (five - forward, one - reverse) gearbox ZF SHP-1500. The engine, cooling system and gearbox are designed as a single unit and are separated from the rest of the body by firewalls. An automatic fire extinguishing and alarm system is installed in the engine compartment.

BTR Centaur

To the left of the engine compartment there is a control compartment with a driver's workplace (the driver's seat is height-adjustable). Outside of a combat situation, the driver controls the car, observing the terrain through an open hatch. In battle, observation is carried out using three observation periscopes. Instead of a central observation unit, a non-illuminated night vision device can be installed.

The central part of the hull is occupied by the fuel tanks and turret floor. In the aft part there are two ammunition stows with 12 rounds for the cannon, batteries, a filtering unit and a hydraulic winch with a pulling force of 10 tons. The aft armor plate has a hatch used to load the projectiles.

All eight wheels are driving, the first two pairs are steerable, but at speeds up to 20 km / h, the rear pair of wheels can also be turned. The wheels are steered using hydraulic boosters. Wheel suspension is independent hydropneumatic. The machine is equipped with a centralized tire pressure regulation system. All wheels are equipped with disc brakes.

BM B1 Centaur

The three-man turret, armed with a 52-caliber 105 mm LR cannon, was developed by OTO Melara. It is installed closer to the stern of the hull. The commander of the armored car is located to the left of the gun, the gunner is to the right, the loader is located behind the gunner. Hull roof hatches are located above the commander's and loader's seats.

The LR cannon is similar in internal ballistics to the 105mm L7 / M68 tank gun. The gun is equipped with a device for purging the bore after firing, a highly efficient muzzle brake that absorbs up to 40% of recoil, and a thermal protective casing. The recoil of the cannon when fired is 14 tons, in order to extinguish it, a special hydro-pneumatic recoil system is installed with a barrel stroke of 750 mm after firing. Shooting is possible with all standard NATO 105mm projectiles, including HEAT shells. Ammunition for the cannon-40 shells, 14 of them are stored directly in the tower. Paired with the gun is a 7.62 mm M42 / 59 machine gun (mounted on the left side of the cannon), another machine gun can be mounted on the turret roof. Ammunition for machine guns 4000 rounds. There are four smoke grenade launchers on the sides of the tower.

The rotation of the turret and the aiming of the gun in the vertical plane is carried out using electro-hydraulic drives. Elevation angles of the gun from -6 ° to + 15 °.

The armored car is equipped with a modular fire control system from Galileo. Its main subsystems are the sights of the commander and gunner, a digital ballistic computer, atmospheric sensors, indicators and control panels for the gunner, commander and loader. The commander of the armored car has a stabilized daytime panoramic sight with 2, 5 and 10x magnification. An image intensifier is integrated into the sight, which allows observation and aiming in low light conditions. The sight has circular rotation in the horizontal plane, in the vertical - from -10 ° to + 60 °. The gunner has a combined stabilized day / night sight with a built-in laser rangefinder. The daytime channel has a 5-fold amplification, the image from the infrared channel is duplicated on the indicator installed next to the commander's seat. The shooter also has a telescope with an 8x magnification paired with the main sight. The commander observes the left sector through four periscopic observation devices, the gunner - for the right one through five fixed periscopic observation devices. The ballistic computer is based on a 16-bit Intel 8086 processor. Despite the fact that the gun is stabilized in two planes and there is a modern fire control system, according to Western press reports, the Centaur cannot fire on the move.

But the results of the tests of the first six vehicles, some changes were made to the design: the width of the hull was slightly reduced (for more convenient placement in the "womb" of the C-130), the bottom was given a small V-shape for better mine protection, the dimensions of the hatch in the aft armor plate were reduced …

Serial production of armored vehicles V-1 "Centaur" was completed in 1996. The three armored cavalry regiments of the Italian army were armed with 400 vehicles. The command of the Spanish Armed Forces, which intends to purchase 30 wheeled tanks, is showing interest in armored vehicles of this type.

Checking armored vehicles in combat conditions. "Centaur" were held during the peacekeeping operation "Restor Hope", conducted in Somalia under the auspices of the UN. At the end of 1992, eight wheeled tanks from the 19th Cavalry Regiment were sent to the African continent as part of a mixed armored company (in addition to the Centaurs, it included five more M60A1 tanks). Two airborne regiments, which made up the backbone of the Italian contingent of UN forces, were reinforced with heavy equipment. "Centaurs" were widely used to conduct reconnaissance raids, blockade the main lines of communication of the separatists and escort convoys with humanitarian supplies. During the first four months of 1993, seven armored vehicles wound 8,400 km along the Somali highways and off-road. For all the time there was not a single serious case of equipment failure. The eighth car was not used, as immediately upon arrival in Somalia, its engine failed. Until the end of the UN mission in Somalia, the eighth Centaur was commissioned, and two more vehicles were transferred from Italy.

In conditions of constant tire damage, the system of centralized pressure regulation in pneumatics proved to be especially good; it certainly could not get rid of punctures, but it allowed to complete the task.

For the whole company, there were no worthy targets for 105-mm cannons, of which they fired only during practice firing at an impromptu training ground in the Jialalki area. But the commander's panoramic sight with an electro-optical image amplifier came in handy. "Centaurs" were very often used as mobile observation posts along the Imperial Highway. The vehicles took up positions 500 meters from the road and the crews, using sights as night vision devices, tracked nightlife, if necessary, directing Italian patrols to suspicious manifestations of it.

VHF radio stations installed on armored vehicles turned out to be insufficiently powerful, it was considered necessary to have a medium-range HF radio station, at least on command vehicles. Oddly enough, in a very hot climate, the crews did not use the air conditioning system, preferring to open all the hatches for plowing.

Typical counterinsurgency operations were carried out in Somalia. The enemy was poorly armed and poorly trained, nevertheless, it quickly became clear that the armor protection of the "Centaurs" (as well as of all other armored vehicles) was clearly not sufficient, it did not "hold" the armor-piercing bullets of DShK machine guns, not to mention RPG grenades. 7. As a matter of urgency, the British company Royal Ordnance ordered twenty sets of dynamic protection blocks for the tower and the sides of the ROMOR-A hull. Ten kits were installed on the "Somali" "Centaurs".

In the summer of 1997, the Centaurs, together with the armored vehicles of the Fiat 6614 Guards Cavalry Regiment, took part in Operation Alba to prevent the civil war in Albania.

"CENTAUR" II

In 1996, the Italian Armed Forces issued specifications for the second generation Centaur wheeled tank. A prototype was manufactured in the same year, and in 1997 it was transferred for testing. The aft hull was lengthened by 335 mm, which increased its internal volume. Ammunition for the 105-mm cannon on the new version of the Centaur BRM is located only in the turret, while the enlarged aft compartment provides space for four soldiers with full weapons. Additional armor plates are installed around the tower, the upper parts of the two rear pairs of wheels are covered with screens of steel armor plates. As a result of the modifications, the combat weight of the vehicle increased by 1 ton, the ammunition of shells for the cannon decreased from 40 to 16. It is expected that the Italian ground forces will order 150 Centaur II armored vehicles for use as armored reconnaissance vehicles.

An experienced armored personnel carrier was built in 1996. The hull of the vehicle was lengthened by another 80 mm compared to the "Centaur" II, and the wheelbase also increased, from 4.5 m to 4.8 m. For ergonomic reasons, the hull was made higher, the height of the armored personnel carrier on the roof of the hull is 1.93 m compared to 1.75 m for the "Centaur". The experience of peacekeeping operations in Somalia has shown the need to strengthen armor protection: the armor of an armored personnel carrier can withstand hits from 12.7-mm armor-piercing bullets in the aft and from the sides, and in the frontal part - hits from 25-mm shells. On the demonstration vehicle, a two-seater OTO Breda tower was installed, armed with a 20-mm automatic cannon and a coaxial 7, 62-mm machine gun. During the tests, the 20mm cannon was replaced with a 25mm cannon. In a configuration with an installed turret, the crew of an armored personnel carrier consists of three people (commander, gunner, driver) and six more paratroopers are placed in the aft fighting compartment. The combat weight of the armored personnel carrier is 24 tons. The reckless armored personnel carrier based on the "Centaur" can carry 11 people, including the driver.

The Centaur-based armored personnel carrier meets almost all the requirements set by the French army for the promising VBM wheeled vehicle, the German army for the GTK vehicle and the British army for the MRAV armored vehicle. The only exception is the width of the vehicle, since the armed forces of France and Germany limited the width of the promising armored car to three meters, while the width of the armored personnel carrier based on the Centaur is 3.28 m. to another type. It is very likely that the armored personnel carrier will take part in the tender for the supply of armored wheeled vehicles for the armed forces of these countries.

In 1999, the Italian Ministry of Defense signed a contract providing for the development of a command-staff vehicle, an ambulance evacuation vehicle, a self-propelled mortar and an ATGM carrier based on an armored personnel carrier. The Italian army plans to purchase 240 vehicles of all modifications. The width of the base model for Italy has been reduced to 3 m.

The anti-tank version will be equipped with a rotating OTO Breda HITFIST turret. The turret is equipped with an Oerlikon Kontravers 25-mm automatic cannon, a 7.62-mm machine gun paired with it and two "TOU" ATGM launchers.

The command and staff vehicle has an increased height of the fighting compartment (the total height of the vehicle on the roof of the hull is 2.1 m). Armament - a machine gun of 12, 7 mm caliber on a pivot mount. There are no embrasures in the sides of the hull and on the ramp on the KShM.

The self-propelled mortar variant involves the installation of a 120-mm TDA smoothbore mortar on a swivel base inside the fighting compartment. Shooting is carried out through a large casement hatch in the roof of the hull. For self-defense, a 12.7 mm machine gun on a pivot mount will be used. The crew of a self-propelled mortar consists of a commander, a driver and four crew members.

A 155-mm self-propelled unit was created and tested on the basis of the Centaur armored vehicle.