Italy tees up $5 billion-plus program to build 1,000 combat vehicles

ROME — Italy will pick industrial partners to start work on a major new €5 billion (U.S. $5.4 billion) tracked fighting vehicle program within “a few months,” a senior Italian Army official has told Defense News.

Companies will be invited to launch feasibility studies for the program, which is expected to lead to a 1,000-vehicle purchase as Italy hurries to replace its aging Dardo vehicles, and as the war in Ukraine has put land combat back on the map.

Furthermore, with Italy determined to involve European firms, the program could prove a catalyst for industrial integration in the sector, as soon as Rome can decide who to pick from potential partners like Italy’s Leonardo and Iveco, French-German firm KNDS, and Germany’s Rheinmetall.

“From a programmatic point of view, all documents related to the operational requirement have been approved and the Ministry of Defence has allocated an important part of the necessary budget,” said Maj. Gen. Francesco Olla, the head of the Army’s General Planning Financial Division. “Therefore, the procurement activities will begin in the next few months.”

Formerly called the Armored Infantry Combat System and now renamed the Army Armored Combat System, or A2CS, the program foresees a vehicle able to share targets with other platforms; use a wide range of ammunition, including airburst rounds; and tackle threats from improvised explosive devices, anti-tank missiles and swarming drones.

The Army also envisages a vehicle with scalable armor, an open architecture, a hefty command-and-control capability, and the ability to work with unmanned aerial and ground vehicles.

Italy’s 2023 defense budget mapped out spending of €5.2 billion on the program over 14 years, but projected the budget would eventually rise to €15 billion. The document also claimed the program would be run in a “multinational context, based on alliances with solid European firms that already work with Italian companies.”

Olla said that’s because no single European nation can currently afford to develop its own vehicle.

“I do not see any [European Union] country capable of developing such a complex technological program alone because of the associated costs and requested technological know-how. Therefore, we expect to see multinational cooperation in this regard, and I am sure that the recent agreement signed by Leonardo and KNDS is a very encouraging step toward that direction,” he said.

In December, Leonardo and KNDS signed what the companies called a “strategic alliance.” The pact is meant to bring Italy on board the European battle tank program known as the Main Ground Combat System and guide talks regarding workshare on new Leopard tanks Italy is ordering from KNDS.

The deal also mentions a possible partnership on the A2CS program, according to a source with knowledge of the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Meanwhile, a KNDS spokesman said the “Italian vehicle could be a program for possible cooperation between Italian industry and KNDS.”

KNDS may consider offering Italy the tracked version of its Boxer vehicle, which it has tested and showed off at the 2022 Eurosatory defense show in France; the platform is not in production.

Olla said he is wary of Italy buying an existing vehicle, adding he would like to see Italian industry take the role of design authority.

“It is not only a matter of investments and jobs obtained in our homeland, but also an operational problem if you think of the logistics of the systems and the required development and upgrades they will bring with them,” he said.

“It does not mean that Italy will be self-sufficient, but we need to recover our industrial capabilities to produce high-quality platforms, which represent the best tool we can put in the hand of our warriors to give them the higher probability to accomplish their mission and get back home safe,” he added.

Rheinmetall, which is offering Italy its tracked Lynx vehicle, said it is ready to hand over design authority.

“The Lynx is the most modern infantry fighting vehicle available today. It has open architecture, and because we control the product we can give Italy technology transfer and the design authority,” said Alessandro Ercolani, the CEO of the firm’s Italian subsidiary, Rheinmetall Italia.

Ercolani said Italy would risk delaying the program if it tries developing a vehicle from scratch.

“Italy would need five to seven years to design a new IFV or tank, something it has not done since the 1990s, and there would be the cost of development to consider,” he said.

Asked if Rheinmetall is at a disadvantage since Leonardo already signed a strategic deal with KNDS, Ercolani replied: “We are not at a disadvantage because KNDS does not have an IFV to offer at this time.”

The need for more European cooperation on big-ticket programs has been stressed repeatedly by Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani, and A2CS could be a prime catalyst at a moment when the European main battle tank is mired in delay.

But if Italy wants a multinational alliance to work on the A2CS program, officials in Rome may have to be patient while the pieces of that alliance fit together.

A source familiar with the program told Defense News that the nascent effort was parked with procurement officials who are waiting to see what industrial consortium might evolve to handle a feasibility study.

Leonardo, which is likely involved, not only signed its cooperation deal with KNDS in December but also has a well-established joint venture to build military vehicles with Italy’s Iveco. That Iveco-Oto Melara consortium is known as CIO.

“One possibility would be for the work on the study to be handed to CIO, but officials are waiting for a signal from industry about evolving alliances that will want to handle the work,” according to the source, who declined to be named for this article because he was not allowed to speak on the record.

Leonardo has reportedly mulled the purchase of Iveco Defence Vehicles — the branch of Iveco with which it runs CIO — in order to bulk up its land operations business ahead of potential European consolidation in the industry.

“Leonardo needs to decide what to do on that front,” the source said. Ultimately, he added, if Italy wants a new vehicle, it will need to accept longer development times.

“That is why this consortium needs to come together fast,” he added.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——一位意大利陆军高级官员告诉《防务新闻》，意大利将在“几个月内”挑选工业合作伙伴，启动一项价值 50 亿欧元（54 亿美元）的大型新型履带式战车项目。

各公司将被邀请启动该计划的可行性研究，预计该计划将促成1000辆车辆的采购，因为意大利正急于更换其老旧的达尔多车辆，而且乌克兰战争已使陆地作战重新成为焦点。

此外，由于意大利决心让欧洲企业参与其中，该计划可能会成为该行业产业一体化的催化剂，前提是罗马能够从意大利的莱昂纳多和依维柯、法德合资企业KNDS以及德国的莱茵金属等潜在合作伙伴中选择。

陆军总计划财务司司长弗朗切斯科·奥拉少将表示：“从项目规划的角度来看，所有与作战需求相关的文件均已获批，国防部也已拨付了所需预算的大部分。因此，采购活动将在未来几个月内启动。”

该计划原名为装甲步兵作战系统，现已更名为陆军装甲作战系统（A2CS），其设想的车辆能够与其他平台共享目标；使用包括空爆弹在内的各种弹药；并应对简易爆炸装置、反坦克导弹和集群无人机的威胁。

陆军还设想了一种具有可扩展装甲、开放式架构、强大的指挥控制能力以及与无人机和地面车辆协同工作能力的车辆。

意大利2023年的国防预算计划在未来14年内为该项目投入52亿欧元，但预计最终预算将增至150亿欧元。该文件还声称，该项目将在“多国合作框架下运作，基于与已与意大利公司开展合作的实力雄厚的欧洲企业的联盟”。

奥拉表示，这是因为目前没有哪个欧洲国家能够负担得起自主研发汽车的费用。

“我认为没有哪个欧盟国家能够独自开发如此复杂的技术项目，因为这涉及到巨大的成本和所需的技术诀窍。因此，我们期待看到这方面的多国合作，我相信莱昂纳多公司和KNDS公司最近签署的协议是朝着这个方向迈出的重要一步，”他说道。

去年12月，莱昂纳多公司和KNDS公司签署了双方所谓的“战略联盟”协议。该协议旨在让意大利加入名为“主战坦克系统”（Main Ground Combat System）的欧洲主战坦克项目，并指导双方就意大利向KNDS公司订购的新型豹式坦克的分工进行谈判。

据一位了解该交易的消息人士透露，该协议还提到了在 A2CS 项目上可能开展合作。这位消息人士要求匿名，因为他没有被授权接受媒体采访。

与此同时，KNDS 的一位发言人表示，“这款意大利车辆可能是意大利工业界与 KNDS 之间潜在合作项目的一个范例。”

KNDS可能会考虑向意大利提供其Boxer战车的履带版本，该战车已在2022年法国欧洲防务展上进行了测试和展示；该平台尚未投入生产。

Olla表示，他对意大利购买现有车型持谨慎态度，并补充说，他希望看到意大利工业界扮演设计权威的角色。

他说：“这不仅关乎我们祖国的投资和就业机会，而且如果你考虑到系统的后勤保障以及它们将带来的必要发展和升级，这也是一个运营问题。”

“这并不意味着意大利将实现自给自足，但我们需要恢复我们的工业能力，以生产高质量的平台，这是我们能交给战士们的最佳工具，使他们更有可能完成任务并安全回家，”他补充道。

莱茵金属公司向意大利提供其履带式 Lynx 车辆，并表示已准备好移交设计权。

“Lynx是目前最先进的步兵战车。它采用开放式架构，而且由于我们控制着该产品，我们可以向意大利进行技术转让并授予设计权，”莱茵金属意大利公司首席执行官亚历山德罗·埃尔科拉尼表示。

埃尔科拉尼表示，如果意大利尝试从零开始研发车辆，则可能会延误该项目。

他说：“意大利需要五到七年的时间来设计一种新的步兵战车或坦克，这是自上世纪90年代以来意大利没有做过的事情，而且还要考虑研发成本。”

当被问及莱茵金属是否因为莱昂纳多已经与KNDS签署了战略协议而处于劣势时，埃尔科拉尼回答说：“我们并不处于劣势，因为KNDS目前还没有步兵战车可以提供。”

莱昂纳多公司首席执行官罗伯托·辛戈拉尼一再强调，欧洲需要在大型项目上加强合作，而A2CS项目在欧洲主战坦克研发陷入延误之际，可能成为推动合作的主要催化剂。

但如果意大利希望建立一个多国联盟来推进 A2CS 项目，罗马的官员们可能不得不耐心等待，直到该联盟的各个组成部分能够顺利整合。

一位熟悉该项目的消息人士告诉《防务新闻》，这项初步计划目前由采购官员搁置，他们正在等待看看会有哪些工业联盟成立，以进行可行性研究。

莱昂纳多公司很可能参与其中，该公司不仅在去年12月与KNDS签署了合作协议，而且还与意大利依维柯公司建立了成熟的合资企业，共同生产军用车辆。这家依维柯-奥托梅莱拉联合体被称为CIO。

“一种可能性是将这项研究的工作交给首席信息官，但官员们正在等待业界发出信号，看是否有正在形成的联盟愿意承担这项工作，”消息人士称，他拒绝透露姓名，因为他没有被允许公开谈论此事。

据报道，莱昂纳多正在考虑收购依维柯防务车辆公司（Iveco Defence Vehicles，该公司是其旗下 CIO 的子公司），以便在欧洲行业可能出现整合之前，扩大其陆地运营业务。

消息人士称：“莱昂纳多需要就此做出决定。” 他补充说，最终，如果意大利想要一款新车，就必须接受更长的研发周期。

“正因如此，这个联盟才需要尽快组建起来，”他补充道。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。