DARDO ("Dart" in Italian) originally known as Breda Type-70, also marketed as the OTO Twin 40L70 Compact, is a gun-based close-in weapon system (CIWS) built by the Italian companies Breda and OTO Melara. It is composed of two Breda-built Bofors 40 mm firing high explosive (HE) shells, a fire-control radar (Alenia RTN-10X Orion) and a fire-control system (Alenia RTN-20X Orion and Dardo). It is the last of a long series of Italian anti-aircraft weapons derived from the Swedish Bofors 40 mm autocannons (mounted on Breda built gun mounts such as the Type 64, Type 106, Type 107, Type 564 and Type 520).
== Purpose == The system's primary purpose is to defend against anti-ship missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and other precision guided weapons. It can also be employed against conventional and rotary-wing aircraft, surface ships, small water-crafts, coastal targets and floating mines.
== Installation == DARDO is installed in an enclosed turret with two different mounts: the Type A with 440-round internal and 292-round under-deck magazines; and Type B with only the 440-round internal magazine (Type B requires no deck penetration). However, the most recent OTO Twin 40L70 Compact's brochure nominates 736-round magazine for Type A and 444-round magazine for Type B, both feature deck non-deck penetration or with deck penetration. The newest Marlin 40 variant has no deck penetration, having a sole internal magazine for 80 ready-to-fire rounds.
Other versions
=== Compact === The OTO Twin 40L70 Compact is the current marketing name for the DARDO. Option for a stealth cupola is available to reduce the gun mount's RCS. They come in Type A version with 736 round magazine & Type B version with 444 round magazine. Both the Type A and Type B mounting can be installed above-deck (non-penetrating) or with below-deck magazine. The compact mounting has maximum fire rate of 600 round/min (300 round/min × 2). A kit to upgrade Compact mounting to Fast Forty standard is available.
=== Fast Forty === The Fast Forty is an improved version of the Compact mounting with a higher fire rate of 900 round/min (450 round/min × 2), dual magazine and dual feed mechanism to allow switching from High Explosive (HE) rounds to Armour-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS) rounds when a target gets within 1,000 meters from the vessel. Produced in both Single-barrel (Single Fast Forty) and Twin-barrel (Twin Fast Forty) forms, the Fast Forty include a revision of some parts of the loading and breech mechanism and the use of titanium material to improve the performance compared to the Compact mounting. Ammunition magazine and feed arrangements of the Twin Fast Forty remain the same as the Compact but operate at a higher speed. The gun laying and acceleration rates were increased, while the barrel/barrels, are secured in a barrel guidance frames to improves accuracy. The Single Fast Forty has on-mounting ammunition capacity of only 144 round and are available in three types of mounting:
Type A: unmanned mounting, with all operation are done via remote control, Type B: manned mounting, controlled and aimed by an on-turret operator, Type C: unmanned mounting, feature an integral Micro Fire Control System (MFCS) with automatic tracking and fire-control computation. An optional 'Stealth' cupola that provided a significant reduction in the radar cross-section of the mounting are also available.
=== Marlin === The OTO Marlin 40 is the single-barrel, light-weight and no-deck-penetration derivative of the DARDO family, succeeding the Single Fast Forty variant. It is designed with high autonomy and fully-digitalized systems. The mounting used to be known as OTO Melara Forty Light naval gun system. The system comes in a basic version called "Remotely Controlled" (RC), which can be managed by an external firing control system and in the advanced version called "Independent Line Of Sight" (ILOS), which can be operated autonomously via a local control console in addition to be fully controlled by Combat Management System. It also has selectable rate of fire ranging from single shot, 100 round/min and 300 round/min. The Marlin 40 may be fitted with an integrated hoist below-deck to enable the ammunition loading from covered position. Leonardo also announce the development of the ILOS variant combined with vehicle or trailer mounting for ground-based air defense system known as the Hystrix 40 ADS optimized for C-UAS role. The prototype of the said system were scheduled to be revealed by the end of 2026.
Comparison with current CIWS
Operators
=== All Operators === Algeria Kalaat Beni Hammed-class landing ship Argentina Almirante Brown-class destroyer Espora-class corvettevideo Drummond-class corvette Bahrain Al Manama-class corvette Ahmed Al Fateh-class missile boat Al Riffa-class patrol boat Bangladesh Twin Fast Forty BNS Khalid Bin Walid Colombia Almirante Padilla-class frigate ARC 20 de Julio-class offshore patrol vessel Ecuador Esmeraldas-class corvette Egypt Pohang-class corvette Ramadan-class missile boat Ghana Achimota-class missile boat Indonesia OTO Twin 40L70 Compact (Stealth) Raja Haji Fisabilillah-class offshore patrol vessel Makassar-class landing platform dock Semarang-class landing platform dock Paiton Naval Gunnery Firing Range OTO Marlin 40 (ILOS) Bung Karno-class corvette Dorang-class patrol boat Teluk Bintuni-class landing ship tank OTO Marlin 40 (RC) Belati-class missile boat Italy Vittorio Veneto-class cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi-class aircraft carrier Lupo-class frigate Maestrale-class frigate Kuwait DARDO Istiqlal-class missile boat Al Boom-class missile boat Single Fast Forty - Type B Um Al Maradim-class missile boat Libya Ibn Ouf-class landing ship tank Beir Grassa-class missile boat Malaysia Laksamana-class corvette Nigeria DARDO Aradu-class frigate Erinomi-class corvette Siri-class missile boat Ekpe-class missile boat OTO Marlin 40 (RC) OPV 76 Oman Nasr al Bahr-class amphibious warfare vessel Dhofar-class missile boat Al Bushra-class missile boat Peru Almirante Grau-class cruiser Lupo-class frigate Carvajal-class frigate Velarde-class corvette Pohang-class corvette Pisco-class landing platform dock Philippines Pohang-class corvette Qatar Damsah-class missile boat Saudi Arabia Al Madinah-class frigate Boraida-class replenishment oiler South Korea Ulsan-class frigate Pohang-class corvette Bukhansan-class patrol boat Thailand Makut Rajakumarn-class frigate Ratanakosin-class corvette Chonburi-class patrol boat Tunisia La Galite-class missile boat Turkey DARDO Kılıç-class missile boat Tuzla-class patrol boat Single Fast Forty - Type B (Stealth) Bayraktar-class landing ship tank Turkmenistan Serhet-class patrol boat United Arab Emirates Ban Yas-class missile boat Venezuela Lupo-class frigate Capana-class landing ship tank Vietnam Pohang-class corvette
== See also == Aselsan GOKDENIZ Myriad CIWS Meroka CIWS Sea Zenith CIWS Denel 35mm Dual Purpose Gun
References
External links
OTO-Melara 40 mm weapon factsheets Data and Spec of OtoBreda DARDO Images of DARDO and other Breda 40 mm CIWS Video of DARDO firing