At the end of 1955 10,000 US troops left Austria and joined the US Southern European Task Force (SETAF) in Italy.

On 1 March 1959 the 3rd Heavy Artillery Regiment activated two rocket launchers groups armed with Honest John missile systems.

Each group fielded four Honest John launch systems and were based in Elvas, Oderzo, Codogné and Portogruaro.

In case the frontline corps would have failed to hold a Warsaw Pact attack, the III Missile Brigade was tasked to use its tactical nuclear weapons to destroy enemy troop concentrations and to turn the Puster, Canal and Piave valleys into nuclear wastelands to deny the enemy passage.

After the troops' return to Italy the 3rd Missile Artillery Regiment began to phase out its Honest John systems.

However, with the introduction of the second version of the MGM-52 Lance tactical surface-to-surface missile system in the 1980s the three Heavy Artillery Battalions lost their nuclear role.

As the Lance had a greater range (130 km vs. 20 km), a higher mobility and better accuracy the Italian Army decided to rely on its stockpile of over 100 missiles rather than on artillery to deny Warsaw Pact forces passage through the Alpine valleys.

Today the following units of the brigade are still in active service with the Italian Army: the engineer battalion became the 21st Engineer Regiment of the Bersaglieri Brigade "Garibaldi", while the 13th Target Acquisition Group and 41st Artillery Specialists Group "Cordenons" are today part of the army's Tactical Intelligence Brigade: the 41st Regiment "Cordenons" based in Sora is a battlefield surveillance unit equipped with unmanned aerial vehicles and counter-battery radars, while the 13th HUMINT Regiment in Anzio specializes in human intelligence gathering.