Oto Melara was founded in 1905 through a joint venture by companies Vickers
and Terni steelworks.
The new company, called Vickers Terni, set about building a new plant in La
Spezia specializing in producing naval and land artilleries. When it was
completed in 1908, the company won significant contracts to manufacture guns
for warships then in production.
During World War I, the La Spezia factory produced 40 mm heavy machine guns,
240 mm bombards, 381 mm guns and training aircraft.
However, during the post-war period, steep cuts in armament requirements led
the company to turn its focus to civil production, manufacturing steam and
diesel engines, turbines, ship boilers, propellers and railway hardware.
In 1922 Vickers quit the joint venture leaving Terni as the sole owner of
the company. Then, in 1929, two shipyards, Odero from Genoa and Orlando from
Leghorn joined Terni to give birth to Odero-Terni-Orlando - that is
O.T.O.
A foundry was installed at the La Spezia plant giving it further production
potential to produce guns up to 100 tons in weight.
In 1935 Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI) took over the control
of OTO.
Tension in Europe again led to increased military production.
This time, the factory built 75 mm pack howitzers, which were later used as
starting points for guns adopted for Italian tanks and self-propelled artillery
vehicles.Army Corps batteries settled on the 149 mm calibre and army level
units on the 210 mm calibre artillery gun. Anti-aircraft artillery was also
produced in 75mm and 90 mm calibres. Naval guns in 381 mm calibre were also
developed, weighing up to 100 tons and firing 900 kg rounds to a distance of
over 40 km. For light cruisers, smaller 152 mm guns were built, while the
increasing air threat led to the development of a 76 mm air-defence guns.
Various submarine classes were installed with 100 mm and 120 mm calibre
guns.
Following the conclusion of peace agreements at the end of World War II, the
company again reverted to civilian production. The firm eventually liquated in
1951 but reconstituted in 1953 under its current name – Oto Melara.
Following Italy's entry into NATO, the company was able to resume its
production of defence systems. The first 76/62 mm naval gun, which would become
one of the biggest success stories in Oto Melara’s production history, was
built in the mid'50s. In the same period the company started to produce, under
US license, armoured personnel carriers and main battle tanks, specifically the
M113 and M60, and later under German license, the Leopard 1 MBT.
In 1992 the controlling holding firm, EFIM, was liquidated and two years
later all its defence businesses were taken over by Finmeccanica. A decision
was taken to merge Oto Melara and Breda Meccanica Bresciana, giving birth to
Otobreda, a division of Alenia Difesa. Founded in 1925 Breda Meccanica
Bresciana was active in the light armament field, manufacturing small and
medium calibre machine guns and small calibre air defence guns. On 1 December
2001, the company took on its original name, Oto Melara, and became a separate
company controlled by the Finmeccanica group.
