NETTUNO, Italy — Italy’s defense chief has challenged Leonardo and Rheinmetall to deliver a massive, €23 billion ($24 billion) order of tanks and fighting vehicles as quickly as possible to get Italy ready for an increasingly dangerous world.
Gen. Luciano Portolano said time was of the essence in a speech to the heads of the Italian and German firms on Monday as they gathered to watch a Lynx fighting vehicle fire off rounds at Nettuno test range in Italy.
“We cannot protect you if you cannot support us,” said Portolano.
Leonardo and Rheinmetall announced a joint venture last October to build 1,050 variants of the German company’s Lynx vehicle as well as 272 variants of Rheinmetall’s Panther tanks to renew the Italian army’s near-obsolete tracked vehicle component.
At a briefing before the demonstration, officials from the firms said that once production was up and running there would be the capacity to build 700 vehicles for export.
In his speech, Portolano said, “We will help you export, but you have to help us get our national requirement.”
Officials from the new JV, named Leonardo Rheinmetall Military Vehicles, gave the first breakdown of their souped-up schedule, starting with the delivery this year of five Lynx’s which are already being assembled by Rheinmetall to supply the Italian program, which has been variously dubbed AICS and A2CS.
The vehicles will match the variants now being built for Rheinmetall’s other Lynx customer, Hungary, which also lent Italy the model used in the live firing at Nettuno.
Between 2026 and 2027, a further 11 to 16 Lynx’s will be delivered with the Leonardo Hitfist 30 turret that Italy wants on its vehicles, complete with Leonardo’s new 30mm X-Gun, representing the template for the Italianized version of the vehicle.
A slide shown at the briefing showed the first Panther tanks would start arriving in 2027, with the total order including 132 main battle tanks and 140 variants split between a bridge building, armored recovery and armored engineering versions.
As the joint venture awaits anti-trust approval, Leonardo and Rheinmetall will set up a temporary company in the next few days to accept a Request for Proposal from Italy which is the next step to formal contracts, the development of the variants and a ramp up in production using an assembly line in La Spezia, Italy.
The peak year for production, according to a slide, will be 2031 with 171 vehicles and tanks produced.
The Lynx will be produced in five variants which will in turn carry out 16 roles between them. The variants are: 120mm, 30mm, Mortar, Air Defense and Non-Turreted.
David Hoeder, Rheinmetall’s designated executive chairman for the joint venture, said he believed the 120mm “light tank” version would become a successful export.
Speaking to Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger and Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani, Gen. Portolano said of the Lynx, “I fell in love with this vehicle,” adding that “it meets all the requirements of the modern battlefield.”
He added he was particularly impressed at how the eight soldiers riding inside the vehicle would emerge “ready to fight” after hours of traveling.
Apart from the turret and 30mm gun, Leonardo will also supply the Lynx’s C4I system and electro-optic sensor and radar as well as radio.
On the 132 main battle tanks, Rheinmetall will produce 52 120mm guns while Leonardo will produce 80. Each firm will handle 50 percent of the work on the hulls, while Leonardo supplies the engine and a kit to adopt its Vulcano guided munition system.
“Using a 130mm cannon has not been excluded,” said Leonardo co-director general, Lorenzo Mariani.
Laurent Sissmann, the Leonardo official designed as CEO of the joint venture, said meeting the deadlines would be “hard work” but possible.
He told Defense News, “The prerequisites to achieve it are a clear requirement, good industry teaming and stable funding.”
Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.
