Centauro II

A tank's gun on wheels — Italy's Centauro II (B2 Centauro) is an 8×8 wheeled tank destroyer mounting a full 120mm cannon with main-battle-tank-class firepower on a fast, road-mobile, mine-protected hull. It is the heavier, harder-hitting successor to the original Centauro — the world's pioneering wheeled tank destroyer — and it answers a perennial question for medium forces: how to put a tank-killing gun where you need it quickly, without a tank's weight, cost and logistics tail.

Overview

The Centauro II is an 8×8 wheeled armoured fighting vehicle built by CIO — the consortium of Iveco Defence Vehicles (hull and mobility) and Leonardo (turret and armament) — for the Italian Army. Its defining feature is firepower: a 120mm L/45 smoothbore cannon delivering, per IDV, the same firepower and ballistic performance as most modern main battle tanks, but on a wheeled chassis rather than tracks. It succeeds the original B1 Centauro (which used a 105mm gun), upgrading to the 120mm to match NATO main-tank ammunition logistics and to defeat heavier armour, while adding much-improved mine, IED and ballistic protection. The Centauro II is a fire-support and tank-destroyer vehicle for rapid, road-mobile operations — fast strategic and operational mobility, lower cost and logistics burden than a tank, and a gun that hits like one.

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