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Hall & Watts and ARIS to supply artillery sights for Italian FH70 MLU

By Tom Barton |

An L1A1 Hall & Watts artillery sight, chosen on 14 January 2025 for inclusion in the mid-life upgrade of Italy's FH70 towed artillery. (Hall & Watts)

Hall & Watts Defence Optics in partnership with ARIS (Applicazioni Rielaborazioni Impianti Speciali) was selected by the Italian Ministry of Defence (MoD) to supply up to 54 manual artillery sighting systems for the Italian Army's FH70 155mm mid-life upgrade (MLU) programme, Hall & Watts said in a 14 January press release.

As armies increasingly adopt advanced digital artillery navigation and fire-control systems, others โ€“ including the Italian army โ€“ want a backup manual sighting system in case of loss of power, damage, or other eventualities, a Hall & Watts representative told Janes on 15 January.

While not revealing the contract value, the representative said the first 10 sights were scheduled for delivery by end of May, with a following 22 to be delivered by end of November, and another 22 scheduled for November 2026.

The collaboration utilises Hall & Watts' expertise in manual sighting systems with ARIS' experience in defence vehicle and system upgrades.

Developed as a tri-nation towed gun in the 1970s between Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, the FH70 is now only in active service with the Italian Army. It is also in service with Estonia, Japan, Malaysia, Morocco, and Oman. It is held in reserve in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Saudi Arabia.

Out of an estimated 164 FH70s Italy is thought to have 120 deployed with the remainder in reserve. However in 2022 Italy supplied an unknown number of FH70s to Ukraine.

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