The Otomatic was an Italian self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) prototype. Designed and built by OTO Melara, it was armed with a single 76 mm naval gun. The design combined the chassis of a Palmaria Self-propelled gun (SPG), with a new turret mounting the Otobreda 76 mm gun along with associated search and targeting radars and their fire control systems: an S search radar SMA VPS-A05, with around 15 km range against aircraft and 8 km against helicopters in hovering; and a fire control unit SMA VPG-A06 (Ka band). It also included an optical fire-control system with periscopes for search and aiming, with a laser range-finder. The whole turret was built of steel (roughly with the same thickness of the one used in early Leopard 1s) and weighed 15 tonnes. OTO Melara offered it as a long-range SPAAG that could outperform systems like the Gepard and similar versions with the British Marksman turret that mounted much smaller, but rapid-fire, 35 mm guns.
The gun could also be useful against lighter armored vehicles or older generation tanks. The barrel was strengthened in order to hold greater pressures, so it can fire not only HE, but also APFSDS ammunition. The HE round had a built in proximity fuse and could send shrapnel out at about 20 feet away. The APFSDS round on the other hand, had about 330mm of penetration. There was also a 7.62 mm turret mount for close defense. However, the Otomatic was never put into production because the already widespread presence of anti-aircraft missiles reduced the need for a long-range AA gun on the modern battlefield. Still, it is much cheaper to fire a proximity-fused high-caliber shell versus a cheap ISR UAV or suicidal UAV, compared to yeeting a guided missile. The Italian army needed another turret used with a Leopard 1 chassis (the turret was to be adaptable into many 40 ton vehicles, like the Leopard or the OF-40), but the amalgamation never happened, as the SIDAM 25 quad 25 mm gun was already in production and, despite being inferior and not all-weather, almost 300 SIDAMs were bought. The need for 60-80 OTOMATIC never materialised, and the Italian army was even evaluating using a L70 Bofors with a Leopard 1 as a stopgap measure. However, this was not adopted as well, as it was too limited for a 1990s anti-aircraft self-propelled gun. OTOMATIC therefore had no orders by the Italian army, as both SIDAM and Skyguard Aspide were already in order with very high costs, coupled with the Stinger missiles, the upgraded HAWK and the coming MEADS missiles. No orders were received from foreign customers either, despite the 76 mm gun being already well known and widespread in many navies around the world.
