- Yes
- No
General info
The Iveco VM90 (VM standing for Veicolo Multiruolo) is a Italian multi role transport vehicle that is able to be armed in many different configurations. Its story starts in 1978, Italy had many outdated vehicles that they had to replace such as the Fiat AR 57. As such, the Italian army had put out a requirement for Iveco which underlined the need to create a new design that would be able to replace the older military vehicles and their roles. Iveco got swiftly to work and after some time the first prototypes would come out from the Iveco factory at Brescia. The design was quite unique, it was quite modular which meant that the vehicle would indeed be able to be used for multiple roles. Iveco would refine the design and eventually it would officially enter service inside the Italian in the 1980’s. After the first batches were delivered, there was room for the vehicle to enter other non frontline roles, as such Ambulance, Firefighter and Police variants of the vehicle would also emerge, it was an all round ‘‘do it all’’ vehicle. When it came to actually giving the vehicle armaments, Iveco did stick to their word and found many different ways to weaponize this thing, which lead to various ATGM’s and 106 Recoiless rifles versions to show up. They weren’t extremely documented in Italian service, likely due to those version being used in very limited numbers. In terms of other armed variants of the vehicle, there existed one for anti air purposes which say itself armed with a Stinger manpad. During the time BPD was around, an MLRS version would also show up which would utiilize the FIROS-6 platform. Its unknown if the MLRS variant was actually ever made but likely would not take much to create due to the FIROS-6 being lightweight and the Iveco VM90 being modular in nature. In terms of speed, it has access to an turbo multijet diesel engine, which allows the Iveco VM90 to go 105km an hour, with an overall range of 500km, other noteworthy features is that it can hold up to 1350kg of weight and was air transportable and air deployable via parachute. The Iveco VM90 despite being an upgrade in terms of protection from the previous versions of vehicles the Italian army had, it still cant be considered very survivable. The Iveco VM90 is only really protected by machine-gun fire and shell splinters, the rest of the protection is near non existent especially when talking about the specialized variants which were open top. A lot of armament which it had access to such as the TOW ATGM one would leave the users exposed. The Iveco VM90 has a very impressive service record, having been used by nearly all departments of the Italian Army and managed to be widely exported outside of Italy, and license produced in places like China, under the name Nanjing NJ2046. Other notable exports include Poland which modified the vehicle and installed an missile anti air system known as POPRAD. It has pretty much seen itself nearly in every part of the world, and took part in conflicts such as Somalia. The vehicle is currently still widely in service, although technically a replacement for it has recently been found for Italy it is still in the early stages which means the Iveco VM90 will still be in service in the years to come.
Armament+Equipment
x1 M40 106mm RR
Specifications
Why it should be in game
I believe it should be in game as it can serve a lot of brs and fill in potential gaps, like the TD destroyer line only having 1 ATGM vehicle, or at lower tiers with its recoiless rifle. It also had an MLRS and AA version which would also mean it could be added in those configurations. As it stands this vehicle is very iconic for us Italians and in my opinion it would be a shame not seeing it in game in some sort of configuration, especially because as i said, it can be useful in filling in gaps.
Sources
Spoiler
ESERCITO CONSUNTIVO 1986 PROGRAMMAZIONE 1987 by Biblioteca Militare - Issuu
https://www.ording.roma.it/application/files/5315/1972/8277/Evoluzione_Motorizzazione_Militare_atti.pdf
Iveco VM 90 - Wikipedia
Iveco VM 90 - Wikipedia
Tech Specs | The World Offroad
A chameleon named Iveco VM 90 - Online Defense
Photos
Spoiler
