ITALY

First 1,600 ARX-160 rifles to be ordered by end-2009

The Italian Army formally approved Beretta’s new ARX-160 assault rifle at the end of March, paving the way for an initial order for 1,600 weapons to be placed by the end of the year, when it is hoped to have equipped one Army company. The Italian Armed Forces may eventually order up to 30,000 ARX-160s.

      The new 5.56mm automatic rifle has been developed under a four-year, €4 million (US$5.3 million) contract as part of the Future Soldier program. It weighs some 3kg, which is 30% less than the Italian Army’s current Beretta 70/90 rifle, and has a rate-of-fire of 700 rounds per minute. It can be fitted with a 12-inch or a 16-inch barrel, has a 30-round magazine, ambidextrous cartridge ejection and is pin-free. It also features a folding stock and four Picatinny rails. The weapon is made primarily of DuPont Polyamide 66 and Polyamide 12 synthetic materials and it can be fitted with Beretta’s GLX-160 40mm grenade launcher, which is already in Italian Army service.

       Costing some €1,200-1,500 (US$1,600-2,000) each, the ARX-160 is expected to garner significant export sales. The first sale, of 100 ARX-160s, was made to Albania in early April (MPI April 15, 2009, page 8) and much larger contracts are expected from Mexico, Malaysia and Egypt.