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R3 T20 FA-HS

The OTO Melara R3 Capraia was a reconnaissance vehicle made mainly for the export market. The Italian army did also test it as they were interested in seeing if the Folgore regiment could have a use for it. The R3 Capraia was made in at least 7 prototypes, each with their own special configurations and armaments. Despite interest, no country ultimately put it into service due to a saturated market for light reconnaissance vehicles. The R3 Capraia was equipped with various armament options, including a 7.62 mm machine gun, a 12.7 mm machine gun, a TOW ATGM launcher, and two variants of recoilless rifles.

Introduced in Update 1.85 "Supersonic", the R3 T20 FA-HS features a 20 mm Oerlikon KAD autocannon able to easily make short work of lightly armoured vehicles and damage important components like barrels and engines on more heavily armoured vehicles. The great gun elevation also means that it can be very effective when used against air targets, especially those from WW2. The R3 Capraia lacks smoke grenades and has weak armour, but its mobility is its standout feature. As a wheeled vehicle, it can reach high speeds, allowing it to quickly pounce on enemies or rush capture zones. However, the R3's mobility can also be a drawback, as it can become unstable in turns, and may struggle on maps with snow or mud. Despite this, the R3 can also be effective at higher battle ratings.

The R3 T20 FA-HS has light armour able to protect it against .50 cal heavy machine guns from the front and low calibre machine guns from the sides. Any autocannon or tank cannon is however able to shred easily through this armour. The R3 has an internal layout with the crew spread apart, allowing it to survive damage from non-explosive post-penetration damage. However, this tank is still very vulnerable to strafing aircraft. Bombs and rockets also deal heavy damage if the R3 T20 FA-HS is standing in their destruction radius.

The Story of the OTO R3 Capraia begin during the late cold war, OTO Melara was looking to make a reconnaissance vehicle for Italy in the 1980's that would be able to be easy to manufacture and hopefully be picked up by the Italian army and put into service. During that era a lot of nations around the world would experiment with creating light, easily transportable, multi role vehicles. OTO Melara was no different and in the years leading up to this they had already some experience in the field. After some time designing the new vehicle, OTO Melara would finally first display the prototype of the R3 Capraia, (The Capraia received its production name after an island of the Tuscan archipelago.) which would be shown at an Italian Naval exhibition at Genoa in 1982. As previously mentioned they wanted a multi-role vehicle, so for this many different variants would begin to emerge. According to OTO Melara, the R3 Capraia was able to use multiple types of weapon systems, such as a TOW launcher and a dual M40 106 mm recoilless rifle (both of these versions likely weren't actually made but could be made if someone showed interest). The variant with the Oerlikon KAD-B17 20 mm cannon would be fully stabilized and was amphibious which at the time not many vehicles of the era had the same ability. It was extensively tested by the Italian army, and even though it showed some great qualities, at the time there was not a need for that type of vehicle. It had high performance for the era mainly due to the possibility of integrating various weapon systems. Following the conclusion of its evaluation by the Italian army, the OTO R3 Capraia prototypes were put in storage inside of the OTO Melara factory.

Originally posted by Meuhzile:

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