Leonardo tests land version of its 40mm naval gun

The first photo of Leonardo’s Hystrix 40 ADS, a land-based counter-drone gun built around the Italian company’s Marlin 40 naval turret, has appeared online, showing the system during testing.

The image was posted on X by the account A-129 Mangusta, which said it was sent by a follower and showed the system recently undergoing tests.

The turret is the Marlin 40 in its Independent Line of Sight configuration, a mount originally designed for warships. The post did not say where or when the photo was taken, and Leonardo has not commented on it.

Leonardo unveiled the Hystrix family on Feb. 2 as part of Michelangelo Dome, its integrated air defense architecture linking sensors, command systems and weapons. At the time, the company showed the Hystrix 40 ADS only in renderings and said a prototype was expected before the end of 2026. The photo suggests that prototype is now in testing.

Hystrix takes Leonardo’s naval guns and moves them onto land to shoot down drones, loitering munitions and other low-flying threats. The family is planned in three calibers: the Hystrix 76 ADS, based on the 76/62 naval gun, as the long-range layer; the Hystrix 40 ADS as the mid layer; and the Hystrix 30 ADS, based on the Lionfish 30 turret. Leonardo has said the guns are meant to complement air defense missiles, offering sustained fire at lower cost per shot.

The Marlin 40 fires standard 40 mm L70 ammunition, the same family of rounds used by Bofors-type guns, including shells with programmable fuzes. On ships, it can fire single shots or bursts at 100 or 300 rounds per minute, carries up to 80 ready rounds, and has an effective range of about 4.5 km (2.8 miles). The turret turns a full 360 degrees and elevates from minus 20 to plus 85 degrees, so it can track targets almost directly overhead. The mount is in service with about 30 navies.

In the Independent Line of Sight version, the gun carries its own electro-optical director with a daylight camera, infrared camera and laser rangefinder. The director can rotate separately from the barrel, letting the system search for, track and engage targets on its own without an external radar. For the land version, Leonardo plans programmable airburst and proximity-fuzed rounds that detonate near small drones.

Leonardo is also working with MBDA Italy on adding the Fulgur very short-range air defense missile, still in development, to extend the Hystrix 40 ADS’s reach, EDR Magazine reported in February. Of the three calibers, the 40 mm version is the one most likely to fit on wheeled or tracked vehicles without major changes, according to the magazine.

The concept has an export track record. Leonardo has already sold trailer-mounted Marlin 40 ILOS turrets to an unnamed country in the Far East for its air force’s air defense, with local industry assembling them, and is bidding for a similar order from the same country’s army.

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