List of Cold War weapons and land equipment of Italy

This is a list of Italian equipment of the Cold War primarily the Italian Army. Note the main role of the Italian Army in the Cold War period was to protect Southern Europe from an attack from Yugoslavia.

Small arms

Rifles

• M1 Garand- Used immediately post War till 1959.Was manufactured in Italy with American help.
• Beretta BM 59 ^[1] -Italian improved M14 with select fire.
• Beretta AR70- Modern rifle for its time in 5.56 introduced 1972.

Sidearms

• Beretta M1934 ^[2] - This weapon had an amazingly long service life in the Italian army only being replaced in 1981.
• Beretta 92S ^[3] - Adopted in 1981 to replace obsolete M1934. Later variant Beretta M9 similarly replaced the long-lived M1911 pistol in US service.

Machine guns

• MG42/59 ^[4] - Italian made MG 3 machine gun

Submachine guns

• Franchi LF-57- An extremely small number made for Navy and the Target Acquisition Group of the 3rd Missile Brigade (GRACO).

Anti-tank weapons

• Breda Folgore

Artillery

Mountain artillery

• OTO Melara Mod 56- From Italian company OTO Melara today famous for making naval Weapons and Italian AFV's.

Heavy artillery

• FH70 ^[5]

Self propelled

• M44 self-propelled howitzer
• M107 self-propelled gun
• M109 howitzer

Armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs)

Tanks

• M26 Pershing- used immediately post World War II as frontline tank
• M46 Patton- used temporarily until M47 Patton could be sent
• M47 Patton-Main Italian MBT from 1952 to 1970.
• M60 tank-Replaced M47 saw service till end of Cold War
• Leopard 1- used alongside M60.

APCs

• M113 armored personnel carrier

References

1. Jardim, Francisco (2021-09-07). "Sibling Rivalry? The Italian BM 59". The Armory Life. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
2. "Beretta M37 e M37, armi seconda guerra mondiale". ArmyMAG. 2018-10-05. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
3. "Beretta Model 92 (M92)". www.militaryfactory.com. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
4. "MG 42 / 59 | BRIGATA di MARINA San Marco" (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-02-15.
5. "FH-70 - 155 mm towed howitzer". Archived from the original on 2023-01-20. Retrieved 2022-02-17.