Ariete (P)
| This page is about the Italian MBT Ariete (P). For other vehicles of the family, see Ariete (Family). |
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Contents
Description
The C1 Ariete was developed by OTO Melara during the late cold war to allow the Italian army to equip itself with a modern tank which could easily deal with Yugoslav and Warsaw pact tanks.
Introduced in Update 1.87 "Locked On", this vehicle represents the "preserie" variant, which means you don't get access to the stronger equipment the production model has. However, the preserie is at a lower battle rating, which means the majority of enemy vehicles you face can still be easily handled. It has great mobility and the armour is surprisingly effective at its battle rating, when all modifications are unlocked the preserie surely will exceed expectations.
General info
Survivability and armour
The Ariete Preserie is one of the least armoured MBTs in the game, but it can surprisingly withstand a lot of damage from enemies at its battle rating. The hull is one large weak spot with a huge LFP consisting of just one angled 50 mm plate that won't stop anything fired at you, while the UFP is made out of spaced armour that can only stop autocannon rounds or 105 mm APDS shells. Like most MBTs, you really don't want to be shot from the sides, as exposing that part of your tank will more than likely lead to a swift end. Unlike some Soviet or American tanks you'll face, you cannot rely on your armour to absorb shots, as a rule of thumb its best to keep your distance and pick off enemies that cannot severely damage you. In conclusion, it is advised to play this tank away from the front lines, and sniping whenever possible and peaking from behind cover to maximize the use of your turret armour.
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour (hull, turret)
- High-hardness rolled armour (hull UFP, turret front)
- Composite armour (turret front)
- Spaced armour (hull UFP, gun mantlet, turret sides)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | Spaced Armour Upper glacis 50 mm (50°) Lower glacis 35 mm (60°) Sponson front |
10-20 mm Top 35 mm Bottom |
20 mm | 35 mm Crew compartment 20 mm Engine compartment 5 mm Exhaust radiators |
| Turret | Composite armour Turret front Spaced armour + 90 mm Gun mantlet |
Spaced armour | 20 mm + 10 mm | 40 mm Front portion 20 mm Rear portion |
Internal armour:
- 20 + 35 mm - Upper hull sides
- 10 mm - Between driver and hull ammo rack
- 8 mm - Between crew and engine compartments
| Composite/spaced armour | Front | Sides |
|---|---|---|
| Hull | Upper glacis 300 - 400+ mm Chemical 235 - 300+ mm Kinetic |
N/A |
| Turret | Turret front 520 - 600+ mm Chemical 380 - 400+ mm Kinetic Gun mantlet 210 - 530+ mm Chemical 175 - 400+ mm Kinetic |
Turret side 45 - 400+ mm Chemical 45 - 225+ mm Kinetic |
Notes:
- Tracks and suspension - 20 mm
- Side skirts and fenders - 4 mm
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 73 | 52 | 54 | 1,761 | 2,480 | 32.61 | 45.93 |
| Realistic | 65 | 47 | 1,150 | 1,300 | 21.3 | 24.07 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 120 mm OTO Breda 120/44 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 42 | -9°/+20° | ±180° | Two-plane | 38.1 | 52.7 | 64.0 | 70.8 | 75.3 | 7.80 | 6.90 | 6.36 | 6.00 |
| Realistic | 23.8 | 28.0 | 34.0 | 37.6 | 40.0 | ||||||||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| DM12A1 | HEATFS | 480 | 480 | 480 | 480 | 480 | 480 |
| DM23 | APFSDS | 410 | 408 | 401 | 393 | 384 | 376 |
| DM33 | APFSDS | 481 | 478 | 470 | 461 | 450 | 440 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| DM12A1 | HEATFS | 1,140 | 13.5 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 2.15 | 65° | 72° | 77° | |||
| DM23 | APFSDS | 1,640 | 4.3 | - | - | - | 78° | 80° | 81° | |||
| DM33 | APFSDS | 1,640 | 4.3 | - | - | - | 78° | 80° | 81° | |||
Ammo racks
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| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | 16 (+26) | 1 (+41) | No |
Notes:
- Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
- Rack 2 is a first stage ammo rack. It totals 15 shells and gets filled first when loading up the tank.
- Simply not firing when the gun is loaded will move ammo from rack 1 into rack 2. Firing will interrupt the restocking of the ready rack.
Machine guns
| 7.62 mm Beretta MG42/59 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 4,600 (200) | 801 | N/A | N/A |
| Pintle | 2,000 (200) | 801 | -8°/+60° | ±120° |
Usage in battles
When playing the Ariete (P), there are 2 main ways to maximize your effectiveness. First, if you are playing at your actual battle rating, your armour can actually withstand a lot of shots if played right. Knowing that, play aggressively and surprise the enemy where it does not expect you, an enemy taken by surprise might shoot by reflex without taking the time to aim carefully, giving you enough time to make a clean shot and move onward to the next target. Remember that in Arcade Battles, enemies can easily find out where you are with your name tag and where your weak spots are. Second, in the occurrence of an up-tier, it puts you at a severe disadvantage, since you cannot rely on your armour anymore. It also means you'll have trouble actually picking off enemies as your ammunition will also lack penetration power. So the best playstyle would be more supportive: try flanking manoeuvres, stick with your better armoured teammates who can withstand hits, try your best to attack from the sides as they are always a weak spot, even for the most armoured of MBTs. Doing this will help you stay alive longer and be a useful asset to your team.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Powerful 120 mm gun
- Decent frontal armour, thanks to the use of composites
- DM33 is a 10.7 round at a full BR lower - can penetrate all tanks at its own BR and can easily penetrate weak spots in an uptier
- No ammo rack in the turret - a penetration in the turret rarely destroys the tank in one shot
- Front of the turret is immune to 105 mm HEATFS and lower tier 105 mm, 120 mm and 125 mm APFSDS
- Generation 1 thermals for the gunner
- High reverse
- High turret rotation speed
- Can make good use of hull down positions, though not as effectively as some contemporaries
- Decent mobility at medium and high speeds
- Fantastic gun handling characteristics
- All-round capable and fun tank to use
Cons:
- Low reactive mobility at low speed
- Armour is thin and should not be relied upon - a trait shared by all versions of the Ariete
- Huge ammo rack in the front
- The front armour of the turret can be pierced by higher tier 105 mm, 120 mm and 125 mm APFSDS
- The 2 rifle calibre machine guns are not very effective against enemy helicopters or aircraft
- Weak spot beneath the gun always knocks the gun out
History
The C1 Ariete Preserie was one of the first pre-production batches of the C1 Ariete MBT. The Preseries vehicle lacked a lot of details and modifications that the production C1 Ariete would end up having. But before we get into that, the C1 Ariete was born out of the need of the Italian army to modernize the fleet of tanks they had during the cold war. The Italian army utilized several tanks through the years, but the ones that they had in service would not longer be advanced enough to compete with what the rest of the world was doing in terms of tank development. What the Italian army sought was a new main battle tank that could completely replace and finally put out of service their Leopard and M60 tanks. For this, 2 Italian companies took the lead in making the new tank, Iveco and OTO Melara. Iveco primarily dealt with the hull, transmission and engine, while OTO Melara took care of the turret, cannon and the installation of sights. After a few iterations, and mock-up tanks, the first time they were shown to the public, was at a presentation inside of La Spezia in 1987, which also included another new Italian vehicle, the B1 Centauro. The C1 Ariete had many new up-to-date additions, such as having access to the TURMS 3rd generation LTFCS made by Officine Galileo, which gave the capability to the Ariete to fire on the move, both at day and at night. It is not known how many Preseries were be made. One of the Preseries Arietes was for example tested alongside the Italian M60s and Leopard tanks to see how it fared against them in a competition, not surprisingly, the Ariete surpassed them by a long shot, which further propelled itself into being bought and put into official service inside of the Italian army. There were many differences between the Preserie C1 Ariete and the production ones. The Preseries differed heavily design-wise: the Preseries turret was "cleaner", the production one having additional bolts to allow the Ariete to easily install add-on armour if needed,like it happened with the C1 Ariete "WAR" package. The Preseries did not have access to the PSO kit, which alongside the WAR, was available to the production models of the C1 Ariete. It also lacked commander thermals, an upgrade that was performed on the last 50 C1 Arietes produced. The Preseries also lacked one of the more powerful CL3143 APFSDS shells that the production model uses. The cannon the C1 Ariete uses can shoot all NATO standard rounds if needed. Lastly, the Preseries just lacked the overall aesthetic design choices that the production model would have. Once the production models of the C1 Ariete started entering in service, the Preseries were eventually moved into the Italian military vehicle graveyard at Lenta. It is not known if they are still there, but that was the last known places that they were found in.
Media
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See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| OTO Melara | |
|---|---|
| Light Tanks/IFVs | |
| Centauro | Centauro I 105 · Centauro I 105 R · Centauro I 120 · VRCC |
| Dardo | Dardo · VCC-80/30 · VCC-80/60 |
| Other | C13 T90 · R3 T106 FA |
| MBTs | |
| OF-40 | OF-40 · OF-40 Mk.2A · OF-40 (MTCA) |
| Ariete | Ariete (P) · Ariete · Ariete PSO · Ariete AMV |
| Other | M47 (105/55) |
| Tank Destroyers | M113A1 (TOW) |
| SPAA | R3 T20 FA-HS · SIDAM 25 · SIDAM 25 (Mistral) · OTOMATIC |
| Patrol Boats | |
| Sparviero-class | Sparviero* |
| See Also | OTO |
| *Built by OTO Melara in La Spezia under the Alinavi S.p.A. consortium | |
| Italy medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| Italy | |
| M13/40 | M13/40 (I) · M13/40 (II) · M13/40 (III) |
| M14/41 | M14/41 · M14/41 (47/40) |
| M15/42 | M15/42 |
| M16/43 | Celere Sahariano |
| P26/40 | P40 · P40 "G.C. Leoncello" |
| OF-40 | OF-40 · OF-40 Mk.2A · OF-40 (MTCA) |
| Ariete | Ariete (P) · Ariete · Ariete PSO · Ariete AMV |
| Germany | ▄Pz.III N · ▄Pz.IV G · ▄Leopard 1A5 |
| Allied powers | ▄Sherman I Composito · Sherman Ic · ▄Sherman Vc · ▄Sherman V · M26 "D.C.Ariete" · M26A1 · M47 (105/55) · M60A1 "D.C.Ariete" |
| Hungary | |
| Turán | Turan I · Turan II · Turan III |
| Germany | ◔Leopard 2A4 · Leopard 2A7HU |
| USSR | ◔T-72M1 |
