Centauro I 120

Centauro I 120

Centauro I 120

Description

The Blindo Pesante Centauro, 120 mm is a rank Italian tank destroyer with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.97 "Viking Fury".

General info

Survivability and armour

The armour of the Centauro MGS is the same as the previous Centauros, mediocre against everything but calibres smaller than 14.5 mm HMG fire. It has additional armour plates which give it decent armour protection to artillery fire and fragmentation as well as autocannons. However, it is still prone to hullbreak. The lack of armour is however compensated by adopting a playstyle based on the increased mobility to position your vehicle in unexpected spots. This is what the Centauros excel at. Fast speed, manoeuvrability and relatively small profile helps it disguise, move and stay under cover at almost all times.

Armour type:

• High Hardness Rolled Armor
• Alluminium alloy 7020
• Composite Screens

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	15 mm (80°)	15 mm Top 15 mm Bottom	15 mm	10 - 15 mm
Turret	20 mm Turret front 20-40 mm Gun mantlet	20 mm	20 mm	20 mm
Cupola	20 mm	20 mm	20 mm	20 mm

Notes:

• The wheels and suspension bars are 10 mm thick.
• The rear of the turret is covered with 5 mm of structural steel.

Composite Appliqué Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	30 mm (80°) upper glacis 50 mm (44°) lower glacis	30 mm Top 50 mm Bottom	N/A	N/A
Turret	50 mm Turret front 5 mm Gun mantlet	5-20-30 mm	5 mm	5 mm

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade				739			__.__
Realistic				460			__.__

Like the previous Centauros, it has one of the best mobility for wheeled vehicles. It has the same performance as the Blindo Armata B1 Centauro despite the additional armour and a heavier gun. It still lacks performance on snow and somewhat on sand. However, it has the best weight/power ratio for wheeled vehicles of similar size. It should be noted that the MGS, as previous Centauros, is not amphibious.

Armaments

Main armament

The Centauro MGS has access to the powerful 120 mm OTO Melara 120/45 smoothbore cannon, the same cannon mounted on the Ariete MBT. It has the same handling as it utilizes the same ammunition and has the same ballistic performance.

120 mm OTO Melara 120/45					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	33	-6°/+16°	±180°	Two-plane	25.20	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__	_.__	_.__	_.__	_.__
Realistic					17.00	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__

Ammunition

The Centauro MGS has access to a wide variety of ammunition which are the deadliest at the game, specially the CL3143.

• DM12A1: this is the starter HEAT-FS round when it comes stock. It can be considered mediocre as the MBTs faced at the battle-rating are more than capable of withstanding it. However, it is specially useful when dealing at long distances and when lightly armoured vehicles are seen (SPAA for example) as they will be hull broken once hit.
• DM33: this is a round seen in most NATO MBTs in the game (or similar to them), it has decent performance and is able to kill pretty much everything it faces with exception of Russian MBTs with CONTACT-5 ERA (unless the K5 is destroyed first).
• CL3143: this is the best performance round in the Italian tree and the second best in game (first one is DM53/63). It is able to penetrate and destroy all MBTs in the game, even Russian MBTs with CONTACT-5 ERA.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
DM12A1	HEATFS	480	480	480	480	480	480
DM33	APFSDS	481	478	470	461	450	440
CL3143	APFSDS	625	622	613	601	588	575

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
DM12A1	HEATFS	1,140	13.5	0	0.1	2,150	65°	72°	77°
DM33	APFSDS	1,640	4.3	N/A	N/A	N/A	78°	80°	81°
CL3143	APFSDS	1,705	4.3	N/A	N/A	N/A	78°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Centauro I 120

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
33	21 (+12)	9 (+24)	0 (+33)	No

Note:

• Contrary to previous Centauros, the MGS does not have a side ready rack.

Machine guns

The MGS is armed with the already seen MG42/59 and a newly mounted M2HB. As seen in previous Centauros, the 7.62 are only effective against low flying aircraft and obstacle removal, they are inefficient for anything else. However, the M2HB is a nice addition to the anti-aircraft capabilities and even anti-tank capabilities. It is able to damage gun barrels and tracks upon continuous firing and able to take down SPAA like the Tunguska, Roland SAM and ADATS due to their low armor.

12.7 mm M2HB
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Pintle	1080 (200)	577	-8°/+20°	±120°

7.62 mm Beretta MG42/59
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	4,500 (200)	1,200	N/A	N/A
Pintle	2,000 (200)	1,200	-8°/+20°	±120°

Usage in battles

The Centauro MGS should be played as the rest as the Centauros but not quite. Speed, firepower and low profile should be used to perform flanking manoeuvres, get quickly into sniping positions and surprise the enemy.

As a flanker:

The role is pretty straight forward: use your speed and agility to get behind the enemy, cause confusion and engage them as fast as you can. The MGS, like the other Centauros, does not have the issue of needing to stop in order to make a successful flanking. Thanks to the two-plane stabilizer, it is able to fire while moving in order to make the enemies' life difficult when engaging you.

As a sniper:

Like previous Centauros, this is nothing new as the use of thermals, really good zoom sights, fast muzzle velocity rounds and laser rangefinder make this one of the easiest "point-and-click" vehicle in the game. It is recommended to utilize APFSDS when doing long range engagements all the times. Not only for the fact it has much better penetration than the HEATFS but also because of the muzzle velocity. The speed makes it easier to aim than the HEATFS.

Cap rusher:

This is nothing new for any of the Italian wheeled vehicles. Spawn, rush as fast as possible a cap point, capture, leave as fast as possible. This can be done really easily with this Centauro despite what looks like a "sluggish" Centauro. The MGS should not be underestimated in terms of speed.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• 120 mm APFSDS offers improved penetration and damage over the 105 mm gun
• Extremely fast and mobile on road
• Has night vision devices and generation 1 gunner thermals
• Good turret traverse speed
• Smoke grenades cover player when there is danger
• 12.7 mm MG is effective against similar light vehicles/helicopters
• An aced crew can fire the second best APFSDS round in the game every five seconds
• Access to the scouting ability

Cons:

• Little to no protection against most projectiles
• Hull-breakable by chemical rounds
• Tall and long
• Very sluggish on soft terrain (mud, snow or sand)
• Rearward turret placement, sometimes frontal hull is exposed while turret is still behind cover
• Only -6 degrees of gun depression
• Stock grind is difficult with vehicle having low manoeuvrability, thin armour and stock HEAT-FS before modifications are unlocked

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.