B1T Centauro
Operation Antica Babilonia - Iraq ca. 2004

Being a creation of the late cold war to replace the old Italian M47 Pattons in a quickly deployable fire-support-vehicle role, the B1 Centauro 8x8 vehicle became one of the first wheeled FSVs to wield essentially tank-level firepower in form of it´s 105mm /52 OTO Melara rifle gun. While today these vehicles are more common, the Centauro sure was the first sucessfull endeavor in this category, with over 400 vehicles being built and serving in several armies. The B1T variant represents a slightly revised version with the capacity to carry some dismounts in the vehicle´s rear. This also became the most common version of the Centauro. As of today, the Centauro is being replace/substituted in Italian service by it´s successor - the 120mm-armed Centauro II.
Italy used it´s Centauros as mobile fire support during their involvements in Iraq in the early 2000s, codenamed "Operation Antica Babilonia". I will build ACE´s 1/72 kit to represent one of those vehicles.