Future Artillery 2023: Italy modernises artillery

Italy has 68 PzH 2000s in service. (Italian Army)

The Italian Army's plans for its artillery corps were presented on the second day of Defence iQ's Future Artillery conference held in Munich from 30 May to 1 June.

The branch has nine tube and two deep fires artillery regiments and plans to stand up two more regiments.

Italy is working on multidomain operations, with a focus on deep fires. This includes participation in NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps' concept development, experimentation, and innovation project for a multinational field artillery brigade (MN FAB) concept.

Italy is upgrading its Panzerhaubitze (PzH) 2000 self-propelled howitzers (SPHs) and Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRSs). It plans to procure the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), Spike non-line-of-sight (NLOS) anti-tank guided weapons, and wheeled SPHs.

In addition, the Italian Army together with the navy is introducing the Joint Digital Indirect Fire Support System, which is interoperable.

The Italian Army's targeting capability is supported by Strix, RQ-7B Shadow 200, and Raven unmanned aerial vehicles.