ROME — Italian army generals can expect the delivery of new tanks and tracked fighting vehicles within three years from a contract signing with Leonardo and Rheinmetall, expected by year end, Leonardo’s CEO has said.
Roberto Cingolani told Defense News he did not rule out the tank’s guns being manufactured in Italy and suggested the end product could be a candidate for Europe’s future common tank program - the MGCS.
Nor did he exclude Leonardo joining forces in the future with Franco-German consortium KNDS to create a European-wide land group, despite the dramatic breakdown of collaboration talks between Leonardo and KNDS in June.
Citing the European missile house MBDA as a “very effective” model, Cingolani said he foresaw a “highly desirable” scenario in which “France, Germany and Italy get together to make one of the best tanks in the world to access global markets.”
Leonardo and Rheinmetall agreed last month to start talks on creating a joint venture to build the German firm’s Panther tank and Lynx tracked fighting vehicle for the Italian army after talks between Leonardo and KNDS to build Leopard tanks for Italy collapsed.
Cingolani said the new joint venture with Rheinmetall would be up and running by September and contracts signed with the Italian ministry of defense by year end, with the first Lynx vehicles delivered within 2-3 years and the first Panthers in three.
“We will rush as much as possible because Italian defense is in a hurry to get the first vehicles,” Cingolani said.
He added that about 40% of assembly would take place in Germany and 60% in Italy, of which 50% percent would be carried out by Leonardo and 10% by Rheinmetall’s Italian subsidiary.
“We are finalizing workshare now,” he said, adding, “In a simplified version, chassis, transmission, power and wheels are Rheinmetall, while the upper part, the turret, is Leonardo, while weaponization can come from both partners, depending on the version.”
Asked if that meant the tank’s gun could be built in Italy, he replied, “I expect some components could be produced by both partners. It’s under discussion.”
Turning to the failed deal with KNDS, which collapsed over Italian requests to mount Leonardo systems onboard Leopard tanks, Cingolani said, “We tried really hard with KNDS but it didn’t work.”
He added, “We negotiated from December 2023 to June but the point was Leonardo needed a workshare in the range of 50-50.”
He said, “We wanted a substantial role, and with the actual version of the Leopard there was not room for Leonardo to contribute. Changing everything would have been too long and time consuming.”
Another key part of the ill-fated Leonardo-KNDS tie up was preparation to bring Italy into the MGCS program to build a pan-European tank that KNDS has negotiated.
KNDS is a consortium of Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and France’s Nexter.
Cingolani said Leonardo’s new tie-up with Rheinmetall could see it enter MGCS thanks to its work on the Panther, which is still at the prototype stage.
“If we can make a state-of-the-art machine, very competitive, that could be a good candidate for the future main battle tank program. The joint venture could be open to other contributions. We have to be open and flexible,” he said.
Asked if the Italo-German Panther could compete with a KNDS offering to become the MGCS template, he said, “Whether its competition or collaboration, we will see in the future.”
He added, “There is not so much room in the world for so many advanced complex and expensive machines, so perhaps we can find synergies.”
After Leonardo’s deal with KNDS was announced last December, Cingolani suggested Italy, France and Germany could forge an MBDA-like land technology consortium. Now that those talks have collapsed, he said he was still keen on the concept.
“If I am asked whether I would give up a part of a domestic market to access a fraction of a much bigger global market I would have no hesitation - I would say, ‘Where do I have to sign,’” he said.
Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.
