Italian wheeled tank destroyers spotted on Ukrainian front

Italian Centauro B1 wheeled tank destroyers have been spotted on Ukrainian frontlines, the press service of the 78th Separate Assault Airborne Regiment said, offering the first visual confirmation of the vehicles’ presence despite reports that surfaced earlier.

The footage, released to mark Airborne Forces Day, shows Centauro B1s fitted with an array of improvised protective measures aimed at reducing the effectiveness of FPV drones and shaped-charge attacks.

In the video, each Centauro’s hull and turret are surrounded by dispersed metal anti-drone screens — a basket-like arrangement of netting that does not obstruct the gun or hatches. According to the unit’s release, the metal lattice and the fabric layer are intended to reduce the blast effect of incoming munitions and to shift the detonation point of an attacking FPV drone away from the vehicle’s armour.

The screens are also fitted with additional “spikes” made from untwisted cables, which the regiment said should further distance a fuze or explosive from the vehicle’s steel skin.

The Centauro B1’s base armour protects the vehicle all around from 14.5 mm calibre fire and offers frontal resistance to 25 mm armour-piercing rounds. The machine retains its original mobility and compact mass of roughly 24 tonnes, the release said, a configuration that allows it to travel by military transport aircraft. The B1’s turret houses the 105 mm Oto Melara rifled gun, a licensed Italian variant of the British L7, and the vehicle uses NATO standard unitary 105 mm ammunition.

Italy has not publicly disclosed the quantity of Centauro B1s transferred to Ukraine, the regiment’s statement said, and Italian authorities traditionally withhold details of defence shipments. Visual confirmation in the unit’s video therefore provides the clearest evidence to date of the platform’s operational use in the theatre.