Description: The OTOMATIC (Leopard 1) was an Italian SPAAG system of the Cold War. The project started at the end of the 1970s and was led by the Italian company Oto Melara, with the help of other companies. It was presented for the first time at the Paris Air Show of Le Bourget. The first prototype was realized from 1981 to 1985. To outperform foreign counterparts such as the Gepard and the Marksman, Oto decided to fit on the new Aicraft vehicle, a 76/62 mm super rapido gun, which was only a project until 1988. Indeed, one of the biggest problems with the anti-aircraft vehicles of those times was the small range and low accuracy of the 25 and 35 mm guns. But it was also designed to cover other roles than just AA; it was capable of ingaging both aerial and ground veichles, making it one of the few AA veichles capable of defending itself. OTO started to mark it in 1997, but as no nation placed an order, the marketing campaign stopped in the early 2000’s. The OTOMATIC Leopard 1 was the second and last prototype ever produced, and it was mainly used by the company to test the turret on a different platform used by the Italian army compared to the OF 40. It’s hull was not a German-made leopard but an Italian-licensed-produced one with some minor differences. The prototype was widely used for all kinds of tests, and after the company stopped marketing the OTO, it was abandoned along with other previous tanks in the OTO Melara facility. In 2013, the work to restore the abandoned prototype started, and some years later it was finished. The OTOMATIC Leopard was placed in the OTO Melara museum in La Spezia, where it was possible to visit it those days.
Why it should be in game: It will bring to the Italian tt a nice premium option for top tier since it has a different hull compared to the normal OTOMATIC.
the fact that the normal one is 11.3 doesn’t mean that this one have to be a that br too (the tt one could also be downtiered if gaijin decide to do something).
How so?
The only advantage of the 2S38 Is that You can bring all the APDFDS You want. Aside that, It has worse rounds, no radar, worse armor, worse cannon. I agree that They should be at the same br, but calling the 2S38 Better than the Otomatic Is a wrong statement.
A premium SPAAG doesn’t exist in the game and I don’t think this one will either, two identical SPAAGs (except for the hull) wouldn’t make sense. In my opinion, if GJ agrees not to equip it with APFSDS, then only with SAPOM and HE-MOM shells it could end up at BR 9.3/9.7 and could work at least against planes and helicopters that do not have AGM (with range greater than 4.5km) or GBU, and the Italian TT would gain a respectable SPAAG from those BR. Otherwise as it should be, it will always be 11.3 because GJ determines BR based on statistics and those of OTOMATIC are more than good.
P.s The 2S38 in the game is not classified as SPAAG, although in reality it is.
ZUT-37 and Phong Knong. Both of these SPAAGs have very potent anti-tank capability. It’s why they’re the only premium SPAAGs. You aren’t buying/acquiring them to shoot at metal birds. The Leopard-based OTOMATIC would be no different. Plus, there also the option to just add it as a squadron vehicle.
I don’t see a problem with 2 “identical” SPAAGS in the regular TT. Imo they can be placed in a folder just fine, first Leopard with a worse hp/t and then the one we already have with a better engine.
It can also be a good chance to remodel OTOMATIC in a proper way, make a double autoloader, remove SAPOM (make APFSDS available stock) and allow to carry additional APFSDS in the hull ammorack near the driver.
