OTO Melara was a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

company

Finmeccanica Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the eighth ...

, today

Leonardo Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate ...

, active in the defence sector, with factories in

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

and La Spezia. The Mod 56 pack howitzer, in service throughout the world, and the 76mm naval gun, adopted by 53 navies and installed on over 1,000 naval vessels, are among OTO Melara's best known weapons since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. From 1 January 2016, the activities of OTO Melara merged into Leonardo's Defence Systems Division, within the Electronics, Defence and Security Systems Sector.

History

Pre–World War I

It was founded in 1905 as a joint venture of

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

and

Terni Steelworks ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and h ...

Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando (Orlando Brothers Shipyard) is a historical Italian shipyard in Livorno. History It was founded by Luigi Orlando and his brothers Giuseppe, Paolo and Salvatore who moved to Livorno from Genoa where in 1858 they ...

and

Cantieri navali Odero ''Cantieri navali Odero'' (Shipyard Odero) is a defunct Italian shipyard. Founded in 1846 by the Westerman brothers in Genoa-Sestri Ponente, the company was taken over by Nicolò Odero in 1872. Together with the Ansaldo-San Giorgio shipyard at Mu ...

. Investment was also provided by Giuseppe Orlando and Attilio Odero. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Vickers Terni produced many weapons with calibre 40 mm and upwards. In 1929 the company was renamed Odero Terni Orlando with the abbreviation OTO. During

, mostly heavy guns for battleships were produced.

Post–World War II

In 1953 the company took the name OTO Melara. Before Italy joined

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, OTO Melara produced civil products, like tractors and looms, but quickly returned to the production of weapons. On 1 December 2001, the naval artillery division of OTO Melara merged with that of

Breda Meccanica Bresciana Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

to form Otobreda. The combined entity produces the DARDO CIWS, Otobreda 76 mm and Otobreda 127/54 Compact naval guns. OTO Melara's land defence operations are part of the

conglomerate.

Main products

Vehicles manufactured include: *

Ariete The C1 Ariete ( en, battering ram) is the main battle tank of the Italian Army, developed by Consorzio Iveco Oto Melara (CIO), a consortium formed by IVECO and OTO Melara. The chassis and engine were produced by Iveco, while the turret and fire- ...

Main Battle Tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...

OF-40 The OF-40 is an Italian main battle tank developed as a joint venture between OTO Melara and Fiat, and intended primarily for export sales. OTO Melara would develop and produce the hulls, and automotive components would be provided by Fiat (th ...

Centauro The Centauro is a family of Italian military vehicles originating from a wheeled tank destroyer for light to medium territorial defense and tactical reconnaissance. It was developed by a consortium of manufacturers, the Società Consortile Ive ...

Wheeled Tank Destroyer *

Dardo Dardo means dart in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Dardo may also refer to: * Dardo IFV, an Italian infantry fighting vehicle * DARDO, an Italian close-in weapon system * Dardo (automobile), a Brazilian sports car * Tibetan name for the Chines ...

Infantry Fighting Vehicle * VBM Freccia 8×8 Wheeled Infantry Fighting Vehicle * Puma 6×6 and Puma 4×4 Wheeled

Armoured Personnel Carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

* Palmaria self-propelled artillery *

Otomatic The OTO Main Anti-aircraft Tank for Intercept and Combat (shortened as Otomatic, a play on ''Automatic'' and OTO) was an Italian self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) prototype. Designed and built by OTO Melara, it was armed with a single 76 m ...

anti-aircraft tank (

SPAAG An anti-aircraft vehicle, also known as a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) or self-propelled air defense system (SPAD), is a mobile vehicle with a dedicated anti-aircraft capability. Specific weapon systems used include machine guns, ...

) Weapons manufactured includes: *

OTO Melara Mod 56 The OTO-Melara Mod 56 is an Italian-made 105 mm pack howitzer built and developed by OTO-Melara. It fires the standard US type M1 ammunition. History The OTO Melara 105 mm Mod 56 began life in the 1950s to meet the requirement for a modern ...

105/L14 Pack Howitzer *OTO Marlin 40 *HITFACT three-man turret armed with a 120mm/45 calibre or 105mm/52 calibre gun *

Hitfist Oto Melara Hitfist is a two-man turret, for armored vehicles, developed by the Italian Oto Melara. The turrets are designed to mount a 25mm Oerlikon KBA or 30/40mm ATK Mk44 Bushmaster II autocannon. The main armament may mount a co-axial machin ...

two-man turret armed with a 25 or 30mm automatic cannon and 7.62mm coaxial machine gun (plus two

TOW Towing is coupling two or more objects together so that they may be pulled by a designated power source or sources. The towing source may be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human, and the load being anything that can be pulled. Th ...

launchers as option) *

Hitfist OWS Hitfist OWS is a remotely operated turret, for armored vehicles, developed by the Italian Oto Melara and derived from Hitfist. The turrets are designed to mount a main armament of an autocannon of 25 or 30 mm. The main armament may mount a ...

Remotely operated turret armed with a 25 or 30mm automatic cannon and 7.62mm coaxial machine gun (plus two

launchers as option) *

Hitrole The Hitrole is a remote weapons station manufactured by Italian arms company Oto Melara (merged into Leonardo S.p.A., previously Finmeccanica since 2016). The ''"role"'' portion of the name is short for "''R''emotely ''O''perated, ''L''ight ''E' ...

Remote Weapon Station for 7.62mm or 12.7mm machine gun or 40 automatic grenade launcher *Small calibre naval turrets 12,7 LIONFISH *

Otobreda 127/54 Compact The Otobreda 127mm/54 Compact (''127/54C'') gun is a dual purpose naval artillery piece built by the Italian company Oto Melara. It uses the 127mm round which is also used in the 5 inch/ 54 gun, albeit that this gun calibre is measured in Unit ...

naval gun *

Otobreda 127/64 The Oto Melara 127/64 Lightweight (LW) naval gun mount is a rapid-fire gun mount suitable for installation on large and medium size ships. It also has a version for coastal defense, intended for surface fire and naval gunfire support as main ro ...

Lightweight naval gun *

76/62mm Allargato The 76mm/L62 ''Allargato'' is a single barrel, medium caliber, dual purpose automatic naval cannon designed and produced in the 1960s by the Italian defence firm of OTO-Melara as the cannon armament for all medium and large warships built for t ...

Otobreda 76 mm The OTO Melara 76 mm gun is a naval gun built and designed by the Italian defence company OTO Melara. It is based on the OTO Melara 76/62C and evolved toward 76/62 SR and 76/62 Strales. The system is compact enough to be installed on re ...

naval gun *

Otomat The Otomat is an anti-ship and coastal defence missile developed by the Italian company Oto Melara jointly with Matra and now made by MBDA. The name comes, for the first versions, from the name of the two builders ("Oto Melara" and "Matra") an ...

Anti-ship missile * Skyguard "Aspide" Anti-Air missile system * SIDAM 25 anti-aircraft gun *

DARDO Dardo means dart in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Dardo may also refer to: * Dardo IFV, an Italian infantry fighting vehicle * DARDO, an Italian close-in weapon system * Dardo (automobile), a Brazilian sports car * Tibetan name for the Chines ...

CIWS A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of l ...

a twin 40mm naval gun mounting *MSS 1.2 Anti tank guided missile Ammunition manufactured include: *Vulcano 76/127/155mm In the last decade the company has produced between 900 and 1000 GBU-31 and GBU-32

JDAM The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or "dumb bombs", into all-weather precision-guided munitions. JDAM-equipped bombs are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system coupled to a Global Po ...

s on license. At the moment it is working on the production of 500

GBU-39 The GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) is a precision-guided glide bomb that is intended to provide aircraft with the ability to carry a higher number of more accurate bombs. Most US Air Force aircraft will be able to carry (using the BRU-61/A ...

s for the Aeronautica Militare. The naval defence operations produce a wide range of automatic naval artillery, rocket and missile launchers and remote controlled small calibre defence cannons.

References

External links