Freccia
Contents
Description
The Freccia IFV, made by Iveco and OTO Melara, was an Italian IFV designed to meet a new requirement from the Italian army for a new modern vehicle that would be able to successfully replace the obsolete fleet of VCC-2 APCs that had been serving in the Italian armed forces for many years. Iveco and OTO Melara would eventually design something closely based on the Centauro family of vehicles, which would end up being known as the Freccia. It would enter service in 2009 and continues to serve today in a multitude of locations where the Italian army is stationed.
Introduced in Update "La Royale", the main defining feature of the Freccia over its prototype is the new turret which is able to mount Spike fire-and-forget ATGMs. The main con when playing the Freccia is the big profile, you are very limited in how you can hide this machine. Fighting in close proximity to enemy vehicles is also not the best, the Spikes are mid-to-long range weapons with relatively poor penetration, and at close range the Spike missiles behave randomly, so for the missile to actually hit the target there often has to be some considerable distance between players. This is why playing as a sniper is recommended. The Spike missile can lock onto enemy aircraft too but it is very slow, so instead Freccia should use onboard IRST to use the gun on it instead when possible. Mobility-wise, Freccia will not be found lacking on maps with roads, but take note of areas with mud/snow as they will make it go slower. Armour-wise, the Freccia is actually surprisingly good for an IFV, it can withstand low-level autocannon fire and enemy tank shells if they hit an area of the platform with empty space. Overall the Freccia is a solid addition to any top tier Italian ground forces lineup.
General info
Survivability and armour
The Freccia is decently protected against 25 mm APDS and may sustain APFSDS of that calibre frontally for a while. 30 mm however can penetrate and hit any crew member position directly and with APFSDS is able to straight up overpenetrate engine deck and hit the gun ammo rack. Since 30 mm calibre is fairly popular at the BR, trying to find out who is tougher with other light tanks isn't the best course of action for Freccia.
Against 105 mm and bigger cannons the armour doesn't really do much. Overpressure from the front can be blocked by the engine deck, but the ammunition capable of doing this much overpressure damage at the rank might as well destroy Freccia with direct hit damage. Composites on the sides make sure that HEAT can't overpressure the car hull, but it generally doesn't matter as the shell will either detonate ammo racks or hit both of the turret crew. HE of top tier tanks will destroy the tank from any angle but the hull front.
The turret neck remains a universal weakspot for every weapon type and anyone aiming to hurt and/or overpressure Freccia should aim there.
Enemy artillery can be a danger but if hit close to the vehicle the armour is good enough to protect the crew without immediately folding.
Armour type:
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | ___ mm | ___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom |
___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Turret | ___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet |
___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Cupola | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm |
Notes:
Mobility
Freccia is very close to the VBC (PT2) in terms of movement performance, if a little slower, so italian veterans will be right at home with this vehicle.
The car likes to drive at gear 8 and -4 at common combat speeds, so the driver crew skill heavily affects acceleration from standstill.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 121 | 25 | 29.2 | 852 | 1,049 | 29.18 | 35.92 |
| Realistic | 109 | 23 | 486 | 550 | 16.64 | 18.84 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Armaments
Main armament
The main cannon is identical to the one on car's prototype, meaning it will be rather easy to target and disable tanks, though this time around cars back is elevated a bit higher, blocking more of the gun depression than before.
Even medium tanks will have to keep in mind that Freccia has APFSDS and can send them back to spawn all the same. APDS is slightly less effective against modern MBT, but it still can be used as a backup belt to deal crippling damage, should the target be immune to the gun.
There is a new feature in the turret - from sniper seat gunner can activate IRST to allow the tank to lock onto aircraft, just like with the SIDAM, making the HE belt more useful. The feature doesn't provide correct aim assist if hybrid ammunition belt is used (as aim for the belt will only be displayed for the first shell, which has a different velocity from the rest), but is otherwise excellent and doesn't trigger alarm for helicopters like the laser rangefinder might.
| 25 mm Oerlikon KBA B02 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 400 (100) | 560 | -10°/+60° | ±180° | Two-plane | 54.5 | 75.5 | 91.7 | 101.4 | 107.9 | 10.40 | 9.20 | 8.48 | 8.00 |
| Realistic | 34.1 | 40.1 | 48.7 | 53.9 | 57.3 | |||||||||
Ammunition
- Default: APDS · HEI-T* · HEI-T*
- M792: HEI-T* · HEI-T* · HEI-T*
- M791: APDS · APDS · APDS
- PMB 090: APFSDS
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | ||||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| HEI-T* | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| APDS | 80 | 79 | 73 | 67 | 61 | 55 | |
| APFSDS | 92 | 90 | 83 | 75 | 62 | 58 | |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| HEI-T* | 1,100 | 0.19 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 54.4 | 79° | 80° | 81° | ||||
| APDS | 1,335 | 0.13 | - | - | - | 75° | 78° | 80° | ||||
| APFSDS | 1,385 | 0.1 | - | - | - | 78° | 80° | 81° | ||||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 (+1) | 2 (+2) | 1 (+3) | 0 (+4) | No |
Additional armament
Secondary weapon of the tank are the Spike missiles. The missiles are IR in nature, and so there are certain implications that you need to be aware of:
- They lock towards heat signatures and will chase their target on their own
- They do not care if signature is alive or dead, only if it's bright, so spikes may decide to attack fires or a dead tank instead
- They can be blinded by the smoke screen, so they often can't be used as a finisher
- They can be blinded by bushes, but may ignore rocks sometimes, so if tank can't lock-on over cover, then it is probably because of a random plant
- They have a mind of their own and may randomly decide to fly in less than optimal way if you launch them poorly, so aim cannon directly on targeted tanks when possible
- Although the lock-on indicator may make it look like the missiles will go exactly where it points, in reality these missiles are obsessed with going for the driver port and the turret neck when fired from the front
- These missiles do not really care about tank engines for some reason, so locking from behind is difficult, if not impossible (though tank cannon can do its best from behind anyway, so ATGM is not needed at this point)
The missiles are slow (both physically and in the decision-making department) and so the launch procedure is very important. Try to be either closer than 140 m or further than 240 m when firing - in case of close range launch with launcher directly pointing at the tank, the missile will just go forward and act as a metaphorical shotgun, where as at ranges between 140 and 240 the missile will try to loft and will just fly over the target. At longer ranges, such as 500 m and beyond, the missile generally manages to fix itself and fly properly, but aiming the cannon on the target first is still important, as otherwise there is no guarantee that it will not self-destruct or randomly fly to the side.
When going generally towards the target, Freccia should aim the gun on the target and make sure that it fires when its inertia vector is going up (if tank fires when it's going down, the missile will just crash). When going perpendicular to the enemy tank at 60-80 km/h , the aim should be offset to the opposite side (when going right, aim more to the left, etc), aim offset can be quickly judged by the horizontal marks on the sniper scope (number 8 signifies speed difference of 80 km/h).
In terms of damage and penetration, spikes aren't anything groundbreaking and are rather weak due to low explosive mass, but their obsession with aiming for the driver port often makes them hit the gun breech, which in turn makes enemy medium tanks useless despite all of their armour. When properly launched and enemy tank has no cover, they may attack the hull instead and destroy everything in that part of the tank, which is particularly good against Soviet tanks, as they rely on ERA (which is ignored due to the tandem charge) and can't sustain hull damage most of the times.
| Spike-LR II missile | Reloading rate (seconds) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity (Belt) | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| 8 (2) | -3°/+20° | - | - | 13.0 | 11.5 | 10.6 | 10.0 |
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 | ||
| Spike-LR II | ATGM (tandem) | 900 | 900 | 900 | 900 | 900 | 900 |
| Missile details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Range (m) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | ||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| Spike-LR II | ATGM (tandem) | 180 | 20,000 | 13.5 | 0.4 | 0.01 | 1.27 | 80° | 82° | 90° | ||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 (+1) | 2 (+2) | 1 (+3) | 0 (+4) | No |
Machine guns
| 7.62 mm Beretta MG42/59 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 1,200 (200) | 801 | - | - |
| Pintle | 1,200 (200) | 801 | -8°/+20° | -45°/+120° |
Usage in battles
The Freccia IFV can be a very effective stand-off platform that you can use against the enemy team. Unlike other similar IFVs at or above its battle rating, the Freccia is not super effective at closer distances, unless at point blank range, since opponents became much stronger since the times of the VBC (PT2). The best way to play with the Freccia is flanking the enemy team or getting to spots where enemies won't expect to be be engaged from.
The armament of the Freccia consists of a singular 25 mm Oerlikon autocannon, able to fire HE, APDS and APFSDS when you research and buy the modification for it (much like before, you can hot-switch between belts on demand). Just as before, the gun can overpenetrate engine decks from behind which is often instantly fatal and may ruin medium tanks from the sides, but is lacklustre when attacking from the front. The gun can now be locked onto aircraft via IRST to utterly destroy them, if commander wants to. Car also has access to 2 x 7.62 mm machine guns, but these features aren't really something which sets the Freccia apart from its peers.
The main defining weapon system on the Freccia is the Spike-LR II fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missiles. This Israeli-made ATGM allows the Freccia to easily dominate in open maps where hard cover is not easily accessible. At the start of matches, you can quickly make your way to spots where incoming enemies are spotted and freely fire your ATGMs even while moving (preferably from afar). This strategy allows you to engage and drive away, usually before an enemy has enough time to react and engage you. The Spike missile allows the Freccia to be best played as a sniper, for example on the Fields of Poland map the Freccia can set up near the woods on both sides of the map and fire at enemies across the map without much issue. The Spike is not effective at close range due to how the missile is set up to fully function and how random it is. It requires at least 1-3 seconds of flight time to adjust itself to hit an enemy. At point blank ranges, the Spike will often fail to do enough damage, but can be nonetheless used to deliver a finishing blow from the side. Lastly, one big issue with the Freccia is the fact that the Spike's lock-on is very hard to get to work when it doesn't want to. You sometimes cannot get a lock when enemies are behind a rock, even if their turret is exposed, and sometimes missiles pretend to see nothing even when tank rear is exposed, so try to attack directly from the sides.
In terms of armour and survivability, the Freccia is very protected against small to medium calibre munitions: enemy with small anti-air cannons will struggle to penetrate you frontally, though 30 mm cannons of light tanks may just go through everything at medium range. If penetration happens you still have some internal modules which can sustain the damage before reaching your crew or munitions. That said, it is advised that you do not play at close range with the Freccia or on maps which aren't open - although you are somewhat protected, an experienced player can easily find weakspots. These include the turret, which due to crew configuration leads to a swift death if one well placed shot hits you. The other one of the Freccia is at the back, where extra Spike ATGMs are stored, if you haven't used up the Spikes it means that if an enemy fires there the missiles will explode and you will be knocked out. However, when missiles aren't present, low calibre won't actually damage you as there's a lot of empty space on the vehicle. This means that rounds will likely just go through the platform and not hinder you in any way.
Mobility-wise, the Freccia is great on road and on maps with sand and will easily flank majority of opponents, although the advantage is not as blatant as before, as opponents also move faster now. When stock, it's not so good off-road especially without engine modules researched and installed, being quite slow compared to its peers. It doesn't help that the platform is big which usually makes it harder to hide, so again avoid being at close range when there is no hard cover.
In conclusion, the Freccia is a great platform, it has everything classic IFVs would need such as thermal and NV optics, a laser rangefinder, a drone, missiles and also a stabilized main cannon.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Mobile platform
- Access to fire-and-forget Spike-LR II missiles
- Can fire ATGMs on the move
- Armoured hull is enough to allow it to withstand medium grade autocannon fire
- Fast firing 25 mm Oerlikon cannon equipped with APFSDS
- Due to the layout of the vehicle, at times thanks to the empty space enemy rounds will not damage it
Cons:
- Big profile
- Firing Spike ATGMs requires a lock
- Firing at enemies directly behind is an issue if you need to depress your cannon
- Crew layout in the turret can be a problem as enemies can 1 shot you at times
- Due to being wheeled, sometimes when encountering mud or snow it may not be as mobile
History
The story of the Freccia IFV began during the late stages of the Cold war. The Italian army had always seen a need for well-armed wheeled vehicles, so during the Cold War, OTO Melara assisted by Iveco had been working on many different wheeled designs, mainly made in hopes that the Italian army or foreign armies would put said designs into service. Their main goal was to bridge the gap between conventional IFVs and APCs by combining the two. A few designs were created, the first being the B1 Centauro IFVs (also known as Centauro VBC), which would be armed with either a 60 mm HVMS or a 20/25 mm autocannon with ATGMs, primarily based directly on the pre-existing Centauro series of vehicles. Instead of the usual 105 mm Hitfact turret, the vehicle would be modified to allow infantry on board and the installation of conventional IFV turrets. Although interest had been shown, the market during those times was too diluted with the latest designs, and also due to the overwhelming influx of surplus vehicles from nations such as America, would eventually lead to these vehicles to not get picked up.
This didn't stop OTO Melara or Iveco from continuing to work on a new design, however. Years later, the Italian army had set out a new requirement for a new modern vehicle that would be able to successfully replace the obsolete fleet of VCC-2 APCs that had been serving in the Italian armed forces for many years. They decided to go back to the tried and tested design of the B1 Centauro, but unlike the previous attempts, made sure this time that the vehicle was highly modified and had the ability to remain in service for many years ahead, creating the Freccia IFV. Improvements included better armour, better fire control systems, and the integration of an ATGM launcher. For the very first prototypes of the Freccia, the TC-25 Hitfist turret that equipped the Dardo IFV would be installed, becoming known as VBC (PT2). After many tests and the evaluation from the army, that initial design did not stick, likely due to the turret not being very modern, considering it had been designed during the Cold War. Instead, an entirely new turret would be designed from scratch, retaining the same Oerlikon KBA 25 mm automatic cannon but with the option to also include larger calibres such as 30 mm and 40 mm cannons. The new turret was simply named 'Hitfist' (also named Hitfist 25 with 25 mm or Hitfist 30 with 30 mm). The turret structure of the Hitfist would be made of ballistic aluminium alloy with integrated spall liner. In addition, add-on armour was also installed to reach the required ballistic protection level according to STANAG 4569. This turret also had the ability for Spike fire-and-forget ATGMs to be installed, which made the Freccia stand out from its competitors at the time as it wasn't a common occurrence. It gained enough interest for the Italian army to award Iveco and OTO Melara a contract to produce these vehicles for the Italian armed forces.
They were ordered in 2006, first introduced in 2009, and primarily used by the Mechanized Brigade "Pinerolo". The Freccia IFV was the first digitized vehicle to enter service in the Italian army, the Italian government ordered a first batch of 249 Freccia, which would all be delivered by 6 June 2017. The Freccia would also be modified, and would spawn new variants such as Mortar carrier,command post, APC, and scout. In terms of mobility, the Freccia IFV is wheeled, and uses the IVECO Diesel 5HP-1500 V6 engine, which produces 550 HP, this allows the vehicle to reach speeds of 110 km/h with an overall range of up to 800 km. Armament-wise, as previously mentioned it is equipped with a 25 mm autocannon, and in its anti-tank variant, it installs the Israeli-made Spike, 2 which would be ready to fire, while another 8 missiles are stowed inside the hull. The scout version of this vehicle removed the ATGMs in favour of launchers for the Italian-made 'Horus' drone mounted on the turret. This drone has primarily been used for scouting, and has also previously been seen on Italian army vehicles, such as the C1 Ariete and B1 Centauro da 120. OTO Melara has also shown off a variant of the Freccia IFV mounting the Hitfist 30 mm OWS, which replaces the old 25 mm turret with an unmanned turret mounting a 30 mm autocannon, and an ATGM launcher which can use Kornet, Spike, and Ingwe ATGMs. This variant has mainly been an option for export, this was further proved when Russia showed an interest in acquiring a multitude of the Centauro family variants, which included the Freccia. When Italy sent over the vehicles, one of the Freccias there mounted the 30 mm. The Italian army at one point showed interest in this version, but ultimately did not pick it. Lastly, in terms of upgrade programs, the Freccia IFV is currently undergoing a mid-life update to its FCS and other electronic equipment. It is also planned in the future for it to install some sort of active protection system to further increase the survival of the crew and vehicle. Overall the vehicle has proved to be very effective and continues to serve in the Italian army, and likely will for many years to come.
Devblog
The Freccia VBM (Veicolo Blindato Medio - "medium armored vehicle") Infantry fighting vehicle was built on the chassis of the Centauro B1 tank destroyer and designed to support these vehicles on the battlefield. The Freccia VBM has a modified Hifist Plus turret, a further development of the Dardo IFV turret. The turret is equipped with a 25-mm Oerlikon cannon, on the sides of the turret are launchers for Israeli-made Spike missiles. The vehicle has been in service with the Italian army since 2009.
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
- VBC (PT2)
- Type 87 RCV
- Vilkas - extremely similar tank on German tech tree
External links
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