The last time Italy was competitive was back when their top tier had something exclusive and that was having the best penetration in game because their top tier tanks right now are in every way worse than all the other competing tanks. People need a reason to play Ariete again and that reason could be the Shard.
Among the Tanks that Nexter marketed the Shard for includes the C1 Ariete
Ariete has 120mm L/44 Gun
Shard Mk 1
L/44 = 1660m/s
L/52 = 1720m/s
L/55 = 1740m/s
I concluded the projectile length is 860mm and then measured most probable penetrator starting and ending points which comes to about 775mm.
The average (not max) diameter is probably 23mm.
My Shard Penetration Estimates
120mm L/44 [1660m/s]
695mm @ 0m
120mm L/52 [1720m/s]
720mm @ 0m
120mm L/55 [1740m/s]
728mm @ 0m
Conclusion
Considering how much worse Ariete Is than Leopard 2A5 and Leopard 2A6 in game right now.
I don’t think Ariete with just over 40mm vertical pen over 2A6 would break the game.
Italy is getting KF41 next patch and what better way to grind it than to bully Russian top tiers with the Shard round.