Leonardo hopes that their joint work with Rheinmetall can eventually be used to participate in the “Eurotank”
projectEarlier this month, Germany's Rheinmetall and Italy's Leonardo signed a memorandum of understanding, in which they announced plans to create a joint venture, the main purpose of which will be the development of a new main battle tank and the production of the Lynx infantry fighting vehicle for the Italian army's ground systems program.
The prerequisite for such an alliance was the failure of Leonardo's defense cooperation with KNDS – let's recall, it was about the joint production of the Leopard 2A8IT, but the parties could not agree on the issue of shares in the production. In the case of cooperation between Leonardo and Rheinmetall, the shares were decided to be divided equally – 50% each.
Now Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani claims that the Italian army can receive new tanks and tracked combat vehicles already within three years from the signing of the contract (we emphasize that the contract has not yet been signed) and that eventually the created tank can become a participant in the pan-European MGCS program ( Main Ground Combat System), Defense News quoted him as saying.
Moreover, Chingolani does not even reject the development of events, when in the end an agreement will be signed with KNDS for further cooperation on ground systems, despite the failure of cooperation in the past – they say, France, Germany and Italy may eventually unite to “create one of the best tanks in the world to enter global markets”.
The general director of Leonardo announced that they plan to launch a joint venture in September, and to sign contracts – till the end of the year. Thus, the Italian army will receive the first Lynx infantry fighting vehicles approximately in 2026-2027, and new tanks at the end of 2027 – during 2028. The works will be distributed as follows – in Germany, about 40% of the car assembly work will be done, and 60% – in Italy, of which 50% will go to Leonardo and another 10% – to the Italian branch of Rheinmetall.
Yes, according to the preliminary plans, the chassis, transmission, power plant, etc. will be in the area of responsibility of Rheinmetall, the turret remains with Leonardo, and the weapons can be supplied by both the Italians and the Germans – depending on one or another version of the machine.
Regarding possible further participation in the MGCS program, Chingolani notes the following – that they should be open and flexible in this regard, but it is not yet certain whether the same KF51 Panther tank will be a competitor for the MGCS or whether it will eventually be about cooperation.
Recall that it was previously known that Rheinmetall may to receive a truly fantastic order in Italy for up to 20 billion euros – it is a long-term project for 15 years to supply 200 KF51 Panther tanks and another 350 KF41 Lynx infantry fighting vehicles.