OTO Melara 120/45 (120 mm)
Contents
Description
The OTO-Melara/Breda 120/45 is a relatively modern cannon mounted primarily on the Centauro I 120mm and Centauro II 120mm(currently not in game). Not much information is disclosed on the cannon itself due to export restrictions on the cannon and repair/maintenance. What is known is the cannon uses the standard STANAG 4385 compatibility allowing use of other NATO shells including HEAT-FS/Training/APFS-DS and canister.
Vehicles equipped with this weapon
General info
Built in 2004 and mounted to a Centauro chassis using the HITFACT turret not much is known about this cannon and its data unknown since the 120/45 is classified for export and isn't measured in NATO standard as the 45 is the caliber(barrel length measurement commonly used in naval) it is assumed to have the standard performance of the 120x570mm NATO cannons since it follows the STANAG standard for munitions
Available ammunition
As of STANAG 4385 The OTO-Melara/Breda 120/45 has access to various shells standard across NATO 120×570mm NATO cannons.
In Game The shells are quite limited but equal in fire power to the NATO counterparts
DM12A1 - HEAT-FS 480mm of penetration at all ranges on a flat surface
DM33 - APFSDS 470mm of penetration at 500 meters on a flat surface
CL3143 - APFSDS 557mm of penetration at 500 meters on a flat surface
Comparison with analogues
Comparable to the American M256(M1A1 HC and M1A1 clickbait who have M829A1) in both reload rates and fire power. Also has the firepower of the Swedish kan STRV 122 (CL3143 and slpprj m/95 are the exact same shell)
Usage in battles
This cannon is mounted on a wheeled chassis which allows superior mobility for its fire power while boasting a 5 second reload rate with an aced crew. It is a advised to treat this cannon much like the OTO-Melara 105/52 found on the earlier Centauros in the tree and used to pick off targets unaware or showing weak parts of their units
Pros and cons
Pros:
Higher Fire rate over other 120s found on Leopards 2s/Arietes/STRV-122s
Low impulse from firing due to the HITFACT Turret and bore excavator/muzzle brake and flash hider
Extremely accurate at long ranges
Cons:
Lack of extremely potent shells at the BR for example DM53 APFSDS
Low Spall on CL3143
History
The Centauro with a 120 mm gun was some sort of interim vehicle until the next-generation Centauro 2 was developed. It seems that this vehicle was used as technology test bed to spot possible problems related to mounting a powerful 120 mm gun. As a result the forthcoming Centauro 2 had a number of modifications done to the chassis in order to withstand the violent recoil force.
The next-generation Centauro 2 was revealed in 2016. This fire support vehicle uses essentially the same 120 mm gun. However it has a revised chassis, different turret. Furthermore it is better protected and has a number of other improvements.
Media
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
- references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- encyclopedia page on the weapon;
- other literature.
