- Yes
- No
General Info
The M113 is an American made APC, first put in service inside of the US armed forces in the 1960’s to mainly replace outdated vehicles of its type, FMC would develop and produce the vehicle. Due to the positive characteristics of the M113 platform, such as it being highly modular, many countries sought to acquire this platform to incorporate inside of their respective armies to fill out several different roles. Many new M113 variants would start showing up across the globe, with each country either adding more armaments or improving the vehicle to suit operational needs by giving it certain modifications. Italy would be one of the major users of the M113 platform, they would utilize many varaints for different roles, there would be several which would be tested but ultimately would not enter service. In this case however this M113 variant used by Italy would actually see widespread service. It is indeed one of the lesser known variants and was very simple in design. The M113 106mm Senza Rinculo would primarily be armed with one American made M40 106mm recoiless rifle, although provisions for the use of a 12.7mm machine gun or a 7.62mm machinegun were kept. The 106 was able to fully travese 360 degrees however for obvious reasons it would only really every be kept in a forward facing position. This weapon system was easily able to be mounted on several platforms, in that era it was already present on many Italian vehicles, such as the Fiat Campagnola that the Alpini troops used. The main reason the M113 106mm Senza Rinculo was used was due to the need of a light, easily maintainable, cheap anti-tank platform. Italy previously had used a similar M113 platform armed with a M20 75mm recoiless rifle but its effectiveness on the battlefield would prove to be sub-par against tanks of the era, so its very likely that they had replaced the armament in favour of the stronger 106mm recoiless rifle. One of the main upsides of the M40 106mm recoiless rifle was that it could fire both Heat and Hesh rounds, which proved to be effective against enemy armour. It would be capable of penetrating up to 700mm of armour depending on the HEAT round it was given. It was only really after the introduction and widespread use of ERA that the 106mm recoiless rifle began to lose its lethality. The mobility of this variant of the M113 was only just slightly effected but the difference in speed was negligible, so it was still highly mobile both on and off-road. Armour was not changed so it would still be very weak against enemy heavy machinegun fire and other threats it may have faced. The Italian Bersaglieri troops seemed to be the main user of this M113 variant, it use has not been widely documented but it can be spotted at the start of the 1967 ‘‘Festa della Repubblica’’ parade and in some photos of various Bersaglieri trainings of the era. Due to advancements in both technology and and protection kits, the recoiless rifle started to become obsolete. Italy would begin to phase this M113 variant out in favour of a version equipped with TOW ATGM’s.
Armament+Equipment
x1 Cannone da 106mm SR (M40 Recoiless gun, able to fire HEAT and Hesh rounds)
x1 12.7mm or 7.62mm Machine gun
Specifications
Spoiler
Why it should be in game
Although we have the 6614 RR, this M113 RR could be an easy event, battlepass, squadron or premium vehicle which would act as a bonus vehicle someone could add to their lineup. It would be a fairly easy model to make as it wouldn’t take as much time for Gaijin to create. The platform in itself is in no way OP due to the armour being very weak.
Sources
Spoiler
Luce Archives
Storia Militare
M113 in Italia Veicolo Trasporto Truppe e Derivati
Autoveicoli del l’esercito Italiano V4
AFV Profile, Missile Armed Armoured Vehicles
M40 106mm Recoilless Rifle
M113 Specifications
M113 - Wikipedia
https://www.difesaonline.it/mondo-militare/mezzi/m113-onnipresente-sui-campi-di-battaglia-e-nei-ricordi-di-intere-generazioni
https://www.defenceweb.co.za/resources/fact-files/fact-file-m40a1-recoilless-rifle/
Photos
Spoiler
