DARDO

• Name — DARDO OTO Twin 40L70 • Origin — Italy • Type — Close-in weapon system • Is Ranged — yes • Is Artillery — yes • Manufacturer — OTO Melara • Variants — Compact, Fast Forty, Marlin • Weight — Complete gun mount (with ammunition): 5400-5600 kg Complete round (HE): 4.05 kg • Height — Enclosed turret: 2.4 m Type A mount: 1.3 m Type B mount: 0.92 m • Diameter — Mount ring: 1.7 m Working circle: 2.902 m • Caliber — 40×364 mmR • Barrels — 2 × Breda-built Bofors-40 mm L/70 • Rate — 2 × 300 round/min (Compact & Marlin) 2 × 450 round/min (Fast Forty) • Range — HE round: 4000 m • Max Range — 12500 m (maximum height 8700 m) • Feed — Magazine: • Compact: 736 HE rounds on Type A mount or 444 HE rounds on Type B mount • Single Fast Forty: Dual feed mechanism with 144 HE or APFSDS rounds • Twin Fast Forty: Dual feed mechanism with 736 HE rounds & 200 APFSDS rounds on Type A mount or 444 HE rounds & 200 APFSDS rounds on Type B mount • Marlin: Dual feed mechanism with 80 ready-to-fire round • Elevation — Minimum −13° Maximum +85° speed: 60°/s (70°/s Fast Forty) • Traverse — Full 360° traverse, speed: 90°/s (100°/s Fast Forty)

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.

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.

• Illustration — DARDO Compact mounting on Peruvian navy landing platform dock, BAP Pisco (AMP-156).

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. • Illustration — Single Fast Forty mounting on Kuwaiti navy Um Al Maradim-class missile boat, Al Fahaheel (P3721).

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. • Illustration — OTO Marlin 40 (ILOS) mounting on Indonesian navy corvette, KRI Bung Karno (369).

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 of some modern CIWS • Russia AK-630 — United States Phalanx CIWS — Netherlands Goalkeeper CIWS — Italy DARDO • Weight — 9114 kg — 6200 kg — 9902 kg — 5500 kg • Armament — 30 mm 6 barreled GSh-6-30 Gatling Gun — 20 mm 6 barreled M61 Vulcan Gatling Gun — 30 mm 7 barreled GAU-8 Gatling Gun — 40 mm 2 barreled Bofors 40 mm • Rate of Fire — 5,000 rounds per minute — 4,500 rounds per minute — 4,200 rounds per minute — 600/900 round per minute • (effective/ flat-trajectory) Range — 4000 m — 2000 m — 3600 m — 4000 m • Ammunition storage — 2,000 rounds — 1,550 rounds — 1,190 rounds — 736 rounds • Muzzle velocity — 900 m per second — 1100 m per second — 1109 m per second — 1000 m per second • Elevation — −13 to +78 degrees — −75 to +55 degrees — −75 to +64 degrees — −13 to +85 degrees • Traverse — 360 degrees — -150 to +150 degrees — 360 degrees — 360 degrees

• Illustration — Map of DARDO operators in blue • Illustration — Single Fast Forty mounting with stealth cupola on Turkish navy landing ship tank, TCG Bayraktar (L-402). • Illustration — OTO Twin 40L70 Compact with stealth cupola on Indonesian navy landing platform dock, KRI Semarang (594).

* • Kalaat Beni Hammed-class landing ship * • * • video • * * • Al Manama-class corvette • Ahmed Al Fateh-class missile boat • Al Riffa-class patrol boat * • Twin Fast Forty • BNS Khalid Bin Walid * • * • ARC 20 de Julio-class offshore patrol vessel * • * * • * • * * • * * • OTO Twin 40L70 Compact (Stealth) • Raja Haji Fisabilillah-class offshore patrol vessel • * • Semarang-class landing platform dock • Paiton Naval Gunnery Firing Range • OTO Marlin 40 (ILOS) • * • * • * • OTO Marlin 40 (RC) • Belati-class missile boat * • Vittorio Veneto-class cruiser • Giuseppe Garibaldi-class aircraft carrier • * • * * • DARDO • Istiqlal-class missile boat • Al Boom-class missile boat • Single Fast Forty - Type B • Um Al Maradim-class missile boat * • Ibn Ouf-class landing ship tank • Beir Grassa-class missile boat * • * * • DARDO • * • Erinomi-class corvette • Siri-class missile boat • Ekpe-class missile boat • OTO Marlin 40 (RC) • OPV 76 * • Nasr al Bahr-class amphibious warfare vessel • Dhofar-class missile boat • Al Bushra-class missile boat * • Almirante Grau-class cruiser • * • Carvajal-class frigate • Velarde-class corvette • * • Pisco-class landing platform dock * • * * • Damsah-class missile boat * • * • * * • * • * • Bukhansan-class patrol boat * • Makut Rajakumarn-class frigate • * • Chonburi-class patrol boat * • La Galite-class missile boat * • DARDO • Kılıç-class missile boat • * • Single Fast Forty - Type B (Stealth) • * * • Serhet-class patrol boat * • Ban Yas-class missile boat * • * • Capana-class landing ship tank * • *