German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall and Italian defense company Leonardo have formed Leonardo Rheinmetall Military Vehicles, a 50:50 joint venture initially focused on producing a new main battle tank and an armored infantry combat system for the Italian Army.
The LRMV partnership ultimately aims to build a new European manufacturing center for military combat vehicles for the international market, Rheinmetall said in a statement Tuesday. The JV will conduct 60 percent of its activities in Italy, with Rome as its headquarters and operational facilities in La Spezia.
The joint venture announcement follows the companies’ signing of a memorandum of understanding in July for a partnership focusing on the Italian Army’s ground systems programs on a new main battle tank and a new AICS platform.
LRMV will use Rheinmetall’s Panther KF51 as the base platform for the new tank. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 armored combat systems in 16 variants are planned under the Italian AICS program, which will adopt Rheinmetall’s Lynx infantry fighting vehicle as the technological basis.
Armin Papperger, Rheinmetall CEO, said LRMV’s establishment is forming Europe’s “new heavyweight” in tank production. “We are primarily addressing the Italian market, but we will also be targeting other partner nations which are in need of modernizing their combat systems in the future,” he added.
Roberto Cingolani, Leonardo CEO, called the joint venture a “significant step” in creating a European defense system from shared platforms. “Rheinmetall and Leonardo aim at developing state-of-the-art technologies able to compete at international level,” he said.