Image source: topwar.ru
The Italian defense company Leonardo and the German concern Rheinmetall have announced the creation of a joint venture that will produce KF51 tanks and KF41 infantry fighting vehicles for the Italian army. This is reported by the publication Army Recognition. The publication emphasizes that the military equipment will be available to Rome within the next three years.
It is already known that the headquarters of the joint venture will be located in Italy, and the launch of production of combat vehicles is scheduled for September this year.
- said Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani.
As military experts remind us, Italy has been trying for several years to seriously upgrade the fleet of armored vehicles of its army. Some time ago, negotiations on the production of Leopard 2A8 tanks were conducted with the Franco-German KNDS group, however, the parties could not come to a final agreement. The joint venture between Leonardo and Rheinmetall is a kind of alternative to the failed project.
Rome's immediate plans include equipping the army with a new generation of armored vehicles. As part of this project, Italy plans to purchase a batch of Lynx infantry fighting vehicles, which are also the brainchild of the German Rheinmetall concern. The Italian army expects to replace the aging fleet of Dardo armored vehicles with these IFVs.
Image source: topwar.ru
As for the tanks, the choice of the Italian defense engineers fell on the KF51 Panther, which is the main battle tank of the next generation developed by Rheinmetall. The leadership of the German concern positions this combat vehicle as the tank of the future. It is equipped with a new 130 mm main gun, which provides increased firepower, and, according to the developers, has improved mobility to ensure dominance on the battlefield. However, the experience of using German armored vehicles in the area of a special military operation in Ukraine has shown that Rheinmetall products do not have all the declared parameters.
The KF41 Lynx BMP is also presented by German developers as an infantry fighting vehicle of the future. Rheinmetall engineers claim that the modular design, equipped with a 35mm automatic cannon, can support additional weapons such as anti-tank guided missiles.
- informs the publication.
But practically the same thing was said about the German Marder infantry fighting vehicles, which the Russian military is burning dozens of in the Ukrainian steppes.
