Tanks of Italy

Tanks have been employed by the military forces of Italy since their first use in World War I. Initially, Italy built up its tank forces with imported French designs: the Renault FT and Schneider CA. Italy then opted for domestic production of copies of foreign tanks like the Fiat 3000 (Renault FT copy) and the L3 series of tankettes (based on the Carden Loyd tankette). From the Carden Loyd tankette-derived designs, Italy developed their own series of tanks during the interwar years.

During World War II, Italian tanks proved inadequate compared to its Allied and German contemporaries. The small Italian industrial base was incapable of fielding competitive designs, and Italian tanks had too thin armor and too weak armament. The problems became worse as the war wore on due to the rapid evolution of tanks during World War II.

With defeat in World War II, domestic Italian tank production ceased and in the post-war years it received tanks from the US as a NATO member state. In 1971 Italy began fielding the West German Leopard 1 as its main battle tank. From 1990, it was gradually phased out and ultimately replaced by the C1 Ariete starting in 1995.