Its rate of fire was increased from 85 to 120 rpm, firing in six-round bursts, using fragmentation rounds against air targets. It is fitted with a 76mm automatic gun, which is a variant of OTO Melara's very popular 76mm naval gun. The Otomatic was never accepted into service, even though it out-performs many self-propelled anti-aircraft systems. The first prototype was completed in 1987 and it is seen here at the 1988 Farnborough Air Show. Despite these changes, the AMRAD failed to sell.The Otomatic self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) was developed as a private venture by the Italian company, OTO Melara, in the mid-1980s. In order to lower the weight of the system, the turret's armor was reduced and the radars were removed and replaced with an optical-only aiming system cued by a remote radar. OTO-Melara attempted to revive the concept with the AMRAD ("Artillery Multi-Role Area Defense"), which had a much lighter mounting, and which was intended for use on a variety of wheeled vehicles. Therefore, the costly (over 6 mld of lires, excluding the new logistic) 76 mm SPAG was never ordered, and received no order even from foreign costumers, despite the 76 mm gun was already well known and widespread in many navies around the world.
OTOMATIC therefore had no orders by the Italian army, as both SIDAM and Skyguard Aspide were already in order with very high costs, coupled with the Stinger missiles, the upgraded HAWK and the coming MEADS missiles. But this was not adopted as well, as it was too limited for a 1990s anti-aircraft self-propelled gun. The needing for 60-80 OTOMATIC was never satisfied, and the Italian army was even evaluating using a L70 Bofors with a Leopard 1 as 'gap filler'. Italian army had to have another turret used with a Leopard 1 chassis (the turret was adaptable to many 40 ton vehicles, like the Leopard or the OF-40), but the amalgamation never happened, as the SIDAM quad 25 mm gun was already in production and, despite being inferior and not all-weather, it was held in production and almost 300 examples were bought. However, the Otomatic was never put into production because the widespread presence of anti-aircraft missiles reduced the need for a long-range AA gun on the modern battlefield. There was also a 7.62 mm turret mount for close defence. The barrel was strengthened in order to hold greater pressures, so it can fire not only HE, but also APFSDS ammunition. The gun could also be useful against lighter armored vehicles or older generation tanks. OTO Melara offered it as a long-range SPAAG that could outperform systems like the Gepard and similar versions with the British Marksman turret that mounted much smaller 35 mm guns. The whole turret was built of steel (roughly with the same thickness of the one used in early Leopard 1s) and weighed 15 tonnes.
It also included an optical fire-control system with periscopes for search and aiming, with a laser range-finder. The design combined the chassis of a Palmaria Self-propelled gun (SPG), with a new turret mounting the Otobreda 76 mm gun along with associated search and targeting radars and their fire control systems: an S search radar SMA VPS-A05, with around 15 km range against aircraft and 8 km against helicopters in hovering and a fire control unit SMA VPG-A06 (Ka band). The Otomatic was an Italian prototype self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) designed and built by OTO-Melara. 1× Otobreda 76 mm derived autocannon with 70 rounds
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