6/13/2023 0 Comments Otomatic red dragonStill, it is much cheaper to fire a proximity-fused high-caliber shell versus a cheap ISR UAV or single use UAV, compared to launching an anti air missile. The Italian army needed another turret used with a Leopard 1 chassis (the turret was to be adaptable into many 40 ton vehicles, like the Leopard or the OF-40), but the amalgamation never happened, as the SIDAM 25 quad 25 mm gun was already in production and, despite being inferior and not all-weather, almost 300 SIDAMs were bought. The need for 60-80 OTOMATIC never materialised, and the Italian army was even evaluating using a L70 Bofors with a Leopard 1 as a stopgap measure. This was also not adopted, as it was too limited for a 1990s anti-aircraft self-propelled gun. OTOMATIC therefore had no orders by the Italian army, as both SIDAM and Skyguard Aspide were already in order with very high costs, coupled with the Stinger missiles, the upgraded HAWK and the coming MEADS missiles. No orders were received from foreign customers either, despite the 76 mm gun being already well known and widespread in many navies around the world. OTO-Melara attempted to revive the concept with the AMRAD ("Artillery Multi-Role Area Defense"), which had a much lighter mounting, and which was intended for use on a variety of wheeled vehicles. In order to lower the weight of the system, the turret's armor was reduced and the radars were removed and replaced with an optical-only aiming system cued by a remote radar.
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