SIDAM-25 Gun Systems for Ukraine

“Italy is preparing a ‘surprise’ for the Ukrainian Armed Forces that could prove crucial in the fight against Russian kamikaze drones…Ukraine may receive full-fledged, SIDAM-25 air defense systems.” — Vladyslava Kovalenko, for RBC Ukraine, February 28, 2026.

The OTO Melara Sistema Italiano Difesa Aerea Mobile, 25mm (“Italian Mobile Air Defense System, 25mm”), or SIDAM-25, was built in La Spezia, Italy, from 1987 to 1997, with 276 examples completed for the Italian Army, at a cost of $4.308 million each. Of these, 207 were subsequently sold to the Belgian Army. The 14-ton, tracked, self-propelled vehicle employs an M113A1/A2 armored personnel carrier hull, with reinforced armor up to 1.5 inches thick (sufficient protection from small-arms fire and artillery fragments), powered by a six-cylinder, Detroit Diesel 6V-53 engine producing 215 horsepower, and capable of road speeds up to 42 miles per hour. The three-man crew consists of a driver, commander, and gunner.

Mounted atop the hull is an armored, fully-rotating, three-ton, aluminum turret, armed with four powerful, Oerlikon (Swiss) KBA 25x137mm autocannon, each firing at a rate of 570 rounds per minute (9.5 rounds per second), resulting in a combined rate of about 2,280 rounds per minute (38 rounds per second), although some sources quote this as 2,400 rpm/40 rps. The quad cannon may be elevated from -5 degrees to +87 degrees, with the turret traversing a full 360 degrees, and the effective range of the guns is 1.55 miles, with a maximum range of 3.1 miles.

Italy has maintained 68 retired, SIDAM-25 vehicles in storage for the past two decades, and on February 27, 2026, it was announced that they were sending enough vehicles to Ukraine to equip three short-range, air defense batteries, or approximately 12 to 18 vehicles, to reinforce low-altitude, drone defenses within Ukraine’s multi-layered air defense network.

Ammunition storage within the turret includes a total of 600+ high-explosive, fragmentation rounds (150 to 155 rounds per gun) for air defense use, and 40 armor-piercing, discarding-sabot (APDS) rounds for engaging lightly-armored, ground targets. The guns may fire in single-shot mode, in 15-round or 25-round bursts, or in continuous-fire mode, but shorts bursts are preferred in order to conserve ammunition.

The SIDAM-25 relies upon an optronic fire-control suite, integrating a stabilized, optical sight, automatic electro-optic viewing for day and low-light conditions, and a laser rangefinder with a range of up to 6.2 miles. A digital, ballistic computer calculates firing solutions, and there is no onboard radar, but the vehicle can receive target designation data from external radar units via a target-alert display interface. This is a fully-stabilized, fire-control system that permits shooting on the move, when required.

In the mid-1990s, OTO Breda offered a significant upgrade package, adding six Matra (French) Mistral heat-seeking, surface-to-air missiles, with a range of up to five miles, mounted above the guns, with three on either side of the turret.

This was a brilliant solution for extending the effective range of the SIDAM-25 system, but the new Mistral variant was never adopted into active service with the Italian or Belgian Armies, and instead, the vehicle must rely solely upon its four guns for target engagement.

However, when deployed in conjunction with any fixed or mobile air defense radar system, the SIDAM-25’s target-alert display interface permits accurate targeting, even at night or in poor weather conditions. Without radar support, the SIDAM-25 is limited to daylight engagements within visual range.

Apparently, four SIDAM-25 vehicles, previously provided by Belgium, were reported as destroyed during operations in Ukraine, while two more were captured by the Russians, and used as range targets. Italy has thus far provided only the basic, unarmed, M113A1/A2 vehicles removed from decommissioned SIDAM-25s, so this will be the first time that Italy has sent fully-armed, SIDAM-25 vehicles to Ukraine. There has been no mention of a purchase price for the upcoming transfer of these air defense vehicles, so it’s quite likely that they are being donated by the Italian government.

Ukraine certainly has an urgent need for low-cost, drone-killing weapons to offset the enormous swarms of Russian reconnaissance and attack drones being constantly hurled at Ukrainian forces, and a gun system such as the SIDAM-25, even when taken out of retirement, can be quite effective in this role, and definitely less expensive than firing sophisticated and costly missiles at these relatively inexpensive, Iranian-made, Russian-operated drones.