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Ukraine Fields Italy's Centauro B1 8x8 Fire Support Combat Vehicle.
Ukraine’s 78th Separate Airborne Assault Regiment has shown newly delivered Italian Centauro B1 wheeled gun vehicles in unit footage, confirming a transfer long rumored in defense circles. The deployment adds a mobile, tank-gun caliber option that can sprint to reinforce sectors, bolster recon elements, and deliver direct fire without tracked-tank logistics.
On 1 November 2025, Ukraine’s 78th Separate Airborne Assault Regiment publicly showcased newly delivered Italian Centauro B1fire support combat vehicles, providing the first clear visual confirmation of a transfer that had been reported in Ukrainian and international defence media since 2023. The published footage shows vehicles already adapted to Ukrainian battlefield conditions and integrated into frontline formations, which indicates the delivery is operational rather than symbolic. This matters because it introduces into Ukrainian service a class of mobile, gun-armed platforms able to reinforce sectors quickly, support reconnaissance elements and deliver direct fire without the logistical weight of tracked tanks. It also signals that Italy continues to supply Kyiv with combat-capable systems even while keeping exact quantities confidential.
The Centauro B1 is an Italian 8x8 wheeled armored fighting vehicle with a stabilized 105 mm gun, built for rapid road mobility, direct fire support, and reconnaissance with lighter logistics than tracked tanks (Picture Source: Italian MoD)
The Centauro B1 is an 8x8 wheeled fire support combat vehicle built around the Italian Oto Melara 105 mm gun, conceived from the outset to give cavalry, reconnaissance and medium forces a weapon with the firepower of a tank but the mobility and low operating cost of a wheeled platform. It typically carries a four-person crew in a NATO-standard layout, mounting a fully traversable turret with a stabilized main gun able to fire the full range of NATO 105 mm ammunition against armored targets, fortified enemy positions and field obstacles. Because the vehicle is lighter than a main battle tank and sits on wheels, it can travel long distances on roads, redeploy between brigades and be transported by military cargo aircraft more easily than tracked heavy armor. The vehicles displayed by the 78th Regiment carry Ukrainian-specific modifications, including anti-cumulative grilles and a folding field grill attached to the hull, intended to defeat or at least degrade shaped-charge and tandem-charge munitions frequently used by Russian ATGMs and drones. This shows that Ukraine is not merely receiving the vehicle but immediately tailoring it to the realities of the current front.
Developed in Italy in the 1980s and fielded in the early 1990s, the Centauro family emerged from a very clear Italian requirement: to have a fast, road-mobile, gun-armed vehicle capable of countering enemy armor and supporting peace-support or expeditionary operations without deploying heavy tracked formations. Over time, the B1 variant and its successors received better sights, improved fire-control systems and add-on protection packages, allowing the vehicle to stay relevant as threats evolved. Italian forces used the Centauro in the Balkans, in Lebanon and in Iraq, where commanders appreciated its ability to patrol wide areas, arrive first, show credible firepower and then withdraw or redeploy without damage to roads or a heavy maintenance burden. Ukraine is now inserting the same logic into its own force structure: use a wheeled gun system to fill the space between light reconnaissance vehicles and tanks, and to give airborne or air-assault formations a direct-fire asset they can actually move quickly across the theater.
When compared with other platforms familiar to Ukrainian crews, the Centauro B1 occupies a distinctive niche. Against legacy Soviet-designed tracked tanks such as the T-64 or T-72, it does not compete on armor thickness, a point even Ukrainian soldiers jokingly make in the video released by the 78th Regiment, where one paratrooper says he prefers thicker armor but still names the Centauro as the best tank, adding that the worst tank is the one they do not have. That remark is revealing: current Ukrainian operations are not only about maximum protection, but also about having enough mobile, serviceable platforms to move firepower where it is needed. Compared with other wheeled systems received by Ukraine, such as France’s AMX-10RC, the Italian vehicle is closer to a dedicated wheeled tank destroyer, with a mature 105 mm turret, a long service history and a design optimized for European road and mixed terrain. Historically, it can be likened to other wheeled tank destroyers such as South Africa’s Rooikat or later 8x8 gun platforms, but with the advantage of decades of NATO use and a clear doctrine of rapid displacement, fire, and relocation. Its lower logistical footprint, reduced wear on roads, and ability to be sustained with fewer tracked-specific spares give it an advantage in a war where Ukraine must constantly shuttle forces from one axis to another.
The strategic implications are broader than the number of vehicles, which Rome has not disclosed and is unlikely to make public, in line with its usual policy on defense aid. Geopolitically, the appearance of Centauro B1s in Ukrainian markings shows that Italy is ready to transfer systems that have an offensive character, vehicles that can hunt armor, support assaults and interdict movements, while still avoiding the political optics of sending heavy main battle tanks. Geostrategically, it supports Ukraine’s effort to build a mixed, flexible force able to defend and counterattack along very long front lines and interior road networks, where speed of reinforcement can be more decisive than maximum armor. Militarily, it gives Ukrainian commanders an extra tool: a fast direct-fire element suited for reconnaissance-in-force, rapid reinforcement of threatened sectors, escort of supply columns in contested areas, and ambush of enemy mechanized thrusts from secondary roads. Its presence will force Russian planners to dedicate more drones, precision ATGMs and artillery observation to track and neutralize a new mobile threat, which in turn dilutes Russian attention from heavier Ukrainian formations.
The frontline imagery and the short exchange recorded next to the vehicle are not anecdotal. They show crews accepting the Centauro as a useful addition, even when individual soldiers say they still prefer tracks, thicker armor or diesel smell in the morning. That human element is important in 2025: Ukrainian units are operating a very heterogeneous fleet made of Soviet-era tanks, Western IFVs, locally modified MRAPs and now Italian wheeled tank destroyers. A platform that is easy to drive, quick to service and already adapted with Ukrainian anti-cumulative kits will be used more often, and every vehicle that actually goes forward increases the overall resilience of the force.
This latest visual confirmation therefore does more than confirm a delivery rumored since 2023. It shows that European partners, including Italy, are continuing to feed Ukraine with combat platforms tailored for mobile, high-tempo warfare; it accelerates the Westernization of Ukrainian airborne and assault regiments; and it underlines Kyiv’s capacity to absorb, modify and field foreign equipment under fire. With Centauro B1s now seen on Ukrainian soil, the message is clear: even discreet transfers can have tangible battlefield effects when the receiving army knows how to integrate them quickly, protect them against current threats and employ them where their mobility and firepower matter most.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.