page_title: Tanks in the Italian Army
section_title: Cold War
hierarchical_section_title: Tanks in the Italian Army / Cold War
caption_attribution_description: English: Leopard 1 MBT in Yad la-Shiryon Museum, Israel.
context_page_description: The current C1 Ariete is the current main battle tank of the Italian Army.
context_section_description: The kingdom was replaced by a Republic in 1946. The Royal Army changed its name to Italian Army (Esercito Italiano), using tanks from the countries of the Allies from World War II. Following the creation of NATO, the Italian Army was integrated into NATO's Allied Forces Southern Europe and prepared for a feared invasion from the east, possibly via Yugoslavia.
  Allied Land Forces Southern Europe (LANDSOUTH), was activated on 10 July 1951 to defend northeastern Italy.   Some three infantry divisions, the Mantova Infantry Division in Udine, the  Folgore Motorized Infantry Division in Treviso, the Trieste Motorized Infantry Division in Bologna, as well as three brigades, were the only forces initially available to this command to defend northeastern Italy.
  Two of the three brigades were Alpini mountain infantry brigades - the Julia Alpine Brigade in Cividale del Friuli and Tridentina Alpine Brigade in Brixen; the third was the Ariete Armoured Brigade in Pordenone. Exercise "Italic Weld", a combined air-naval-ground exercise in northern Italy involving the United States, Italy, Turkey, and Greece, appears to have been one of the first exercises in which the new Italian Army orientation was tested.
  In June 1957, West Germany and the French Fourth Republic signed an agreement to develop a common tank, designated in German Europa-Panzer. Three German (Arbeitsgruppe A, B and C) and one French design team would be included in a competition, with each team producing two prototypes each. In September, 1958 Italy joined the development program. In 1963 France and Germany had decided to each build their own tank; Germany continued with the Leopard, while France built the similar AMX-30.
  The Leopard 1 main battle tank was produced in West Germany and came out in 1965 and quickly became a standard of European forces,   entering service with the Italian Army in 1971. Since 1990, the Leopard 1 were gradually relegated to secondary roles: Italy had 720 Leopard 1 (600 A2s, 120 A5s) that were retired by the end of 2008 (replaced by Ariete main battle tank); the AEVs, ARVs and ABLVs remain in service and 120 Leopard were kept in reserve.
  In 1977, design work was started by OTO Melara on the OF-40 main battle tank, developed as a joint venture between OTO Melara and FIAT and intended primarily for export sales.  OTO Melara would develop and produce the hulls, and automotive components would be provided by FIAT. The OF-40 was very similar to versions of the German Leopard 1 with welded turrets (Leopard 1A3 & 1A4), which had also been produced under license by OTO Melara since 1974. The only orders for the vehicles ultimately came from the United Arab Emirates.
caption: Leopard 1.
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