Rome: Rheinmetall and Leonardo will deliver a new infantry fighting vehicle to the Italian army within two years and a new main battle tank within three years, the companies said as they announced the signing of a joint venture.
Known as Leonardo Rheinmetall Military Vehicles (LRMV), the 50-50 joint venture will be headquartered in Rome with its operational headquarters in La Spezia, the Italian hub for ground vehicle construction, the firms said in a statement.
Formed in response to an Italian army requirement for new fighting vehicles and tanks, the JV will involve Leonardo taking 50 percent of workshare and Rheinmetall in Germany taking 40 percent with the remaining ten percent taken by Rheinmetall’s Italian facilities.
Dubbed by the firms as a “new European nucleus for the development and production of military combat vehicles in Europe,” the JV follows a memorandum of understanding signed in July. It also comes in the wake of the collapse of plans by Leonardo and KNDS to build vehicles after the Franco-German consortium balked at Leonardo’s workshare requests.
Speaking at a press conference in Rome, Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani said firms in Europe needed to join forces and be “sherpas” on the continent, leading governments towards industrial integration, even if they risked losing “a fraction” of domestic market. “We hope this will be a seed for the growth of a safer Europe,” he added.
Speaking alongside him, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said, “We negotiated everything in 3-4 months and made it happen.”
The deal involves the manufacture of 1,050 new infantry fighting vehicles for the Italian army based on the Rheinmetall Lynx to replace Italy’s aging Dardo vehicles.
With 16 different versions to be supplied and the first vehicle delivered in two years, the program will run to 2040 and cost €15 billion ($16.4 billion), the managers said.
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