KNDS-Leonardo rupture could nix Italian Leopard 2 tank buy

ROME — A major Italian acquisition of Leopard tanks is on the brink of collapsing after a cooperation deal between tank manufacturer KNDS and Italy’s Leonardo was scrapped on Tuesday due to a row over technology transfer.

Announced in December 2023, the partnership between Leonardo and the German-French alliance was due to lead to an industrial role for the Italian defense giant in a large planned Italian purchase of Leopard tanks, including 130 combat versions.

Leonardo aimed to add its own components and electronics to the tank, which was to be assembled at its facility in La Spezia, Italy, but the surprise announcement by KNDS on Tuesday indicated Leonardo wanted more input that KNDS was prepared to offer.

“With 18 European user countries, Leopard 2 is the battle tank standard of our continent and of NATO. It is more important than ever to safeguard this standard, which makes a significant contribution to the interoperability and joint combat power of the European and NATO armies. The parties did not manage to agree on configuration,” Frank Haun, KNDS CEO, said in the statement.

KNDS, the statement added, “is no longer in talks with Leonardo regarding a potential partnership with the Italian company.”

Hours after KNDS issued its statement, Leonardo put out its own press release. “Leonardo announces, despite the efforts undertaken, the interruption of the negotiations with KNDS to define a common configuration for the Main Battle Tank program of the Italian Army and to develop a broader cooperation,” it stated.

”Leonardo confirms its commitment to provide the Italian Army with a performant, interoperable and up-to-date solution, satisfying the present requirements and remaining well positioned for future developments toward Main Ground Combat System, also through cooperation with other qualified international partners,” it added.

The breakdown in talks could yet have further fallout for Italian plans for a new tracked fighting vehicle and a possible entry by Leonardo into KNDS as a stake holder – a move which would have boosted the much vaunted and long delayed consolidation of the European land defense industry.

“Talks about Leonardo’s strategic participation in KNDS have also fallen short,” said Haun.

KNDS is a consortium of Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and France’s Nexter.

Instead, the divorce shows that national interests in the industry are still paramount, despite the pressure from politicians to create synergies and bulk up in the face of Russian aggression and global competition.

While KNDS was keen to suggest in its statement that Leonardo was at fault for wanting to disrupt the uniformity of the Leopard model, one industry insider also pointed the finger at KNDS. “During talks, Italy was offered zero technology transfer, but you can’t offer an off-the-shelf tank when Leonardo has its own systems it can integrate,” said the source, who spoke on condition of not being identified.

A Leonardo official told Defense News earlier this year that the Italian firm was mulling supplying an electro-optical sensor, software defined radio, the command and control system and possibly the gun barrel to the tank .

A second industry source said Italy would now almost certainly cancel its purchase of Leopard tanks even though the process will be complicated by the fact the Italian parliament has voted for it.

“Italy may now consider buying the Rheinmetall Panther KF51 tank, even though it is just a prototype, unless the Italian army steps in and says it still wants the Leopard,” said the source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak on the record.

Last year’s Leonardo-KNDS cooperation deal also mentioned possible teaming on a separate Italian €5 billion ($5.4 billion) program to build 1,050 tracked fighting vehicles.

Leonardo and Italy’s Iveco Defence Vehicles are currently in the process of selecting a European partner to work with on the so-called A2CS program, with candidates including KNDS, which would propose its tracked Boxer vehicle as a baseline, while Rheinmetall has offered its Lynx.

“After this announcement today it is more difficult to imagine Italy working with KNDS on the A2CS program,” said the second source.

The rupture between KNDS and Leonardo could also have ramifications for Italy’s hoped-for entry into the European battle tank program known as the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), which KNDS is running.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——由于技术转让问题引发的争执，意大利坦克制造商 KNDS 与意大利莱昂纳多公司周二取消了一项合作协议，导致意大利一项重大的豹式坦克采购计划濒临失败。

2023 年 12 月宣布的莱昂纳多与德法联盟的合作关系，将使这家意大利国防巨头在意大利计划大规模采购豹式坦克（包括 130 辆作战型坦克）的项目中扮演工业角色。

莱昂纳多公司计划在其位于意大利拉斯佩齐亚的工厂组装坦克，并为其添加自己的组件和电子设备。但KNDS公司周二发布的意外声明表明，莱昂纳多公司希望获得更多KNDS公司无法提供的投入。

“豹2坦克拥有18个欧洲用户国，是欧洲大陆和北约的作战坦克标准。维护这一标准比以往任何时候都更加重要，因为它对欧洲和北约军队的互操作性和联合作战能力做出了重大贡献。各方未能就配置达成一致，”KNDS首席执行官弗兰克·豪恩在声明中表示。

声明还补充说，KNDS“已不再与莱昂纳多就与这家意大利公司建立潜在合作伙伴关系进行谈判”。

在KNDS发表声明数小时后，莱昂纳多公司也发布了自己的新闻稿。新闻稿称：“尽管双方已做出努力，但莱昂纳多公司宣布，与KNDS就意大利陆军主战坦克项目共同配置方案以及拓展更广泛合作进行的谈判已中断。”

“莱昂纳多公司重申其致力于为意大利陆军提供高性能、可互操作且与时俱进的解决方案，以满足当前需求，并通过与其他合格的国际合作伙伴的合作，为未来向主战地面作战系统发展奠定良好基础。”该公司补充道。

谈判破裂可能会对意大利的新型履带式战车计划以及莱昂纳多公司可能作为股东加入KNDS公司产生进一步的影响——此举本可以促进备受吹捧但长期拖延的欧洲陆地防御工业的整合。

“关于莱昂纳多战略性参与KNDS的谈判也未能取得实质性进展，”豪恩说道。

KNDS是由德国克劳斯-玛菲·韦格曼公司和法国奈克斯特公司组成的财团。

相反，这次离婚表明，尽管面临俄罗斯的侵略和全球竞争，政界人士施加压力，要求企业创造协同效应并扩大规模，但该行业的国家利益仍然至关重要。

尽管KNDS在声明中极力暗示莱昂纳多公司试图破坏“豹”式坦克的统一性，但一位业内人士也指出KNDS自身也存在问题。“谈判期间，意大利方面没有得到任何技术转让，但你不能只提供现成的坦克，莱昂纳多公司拥有可以整合的自主系统，”这位不愿透露姓名的消息人士说道。

今年早些时候，莱昂纳多公司的一位官员告诉《防务新闻》，这家意大利公司正在考虑向坦克提供光电传感器、软件定义无线电、指挥控制系统，甚至可能还有炮管。

另一位业内人士表示，尽管意大利议会已经投票通过了购买豹式坦克的决议，但意大利现在几乎肯定会取消购买该坦克的计划，尽管这一过程会因为议会的投票结果而变得复杂。

“意大利现在可能会考虑购买莱茵金属公司的豹式KF51坦克，即使它只是原型车，除非意大利军方介入并表示仍然想要豹式坦克，”消息人士说。该消息人士还要求匿名，因为他没有被允许公开谈论此事。

去年莱昂纳多-KNDS的合作协议还提到，双方可能合作开展一项独立的意大利50亿欧元（54亿美元）项目，建造1050辆履带式战车。

莱昂纳多和意大利依维柯防务车辆公司目前正在为所谓的 A2CS 项目选择欧洲合作伙伴，候选者包括 KNDS 公司，该公司将提出其履带式 Boxer 车辆作为基准，而莱茵金属公司则提出了其 Lynx 车辆。

“今天的公告发布后，很难想象意大利会与 KNDS 在 A2CS 项目上合作，”第二位消息人士说。

KNDS 与 Leonardo 之间的决裂也可能对意大利希望加入的欧洲主战坦克项目（即主战地面作战系统 (MGCS)）产生影响，该项目由 KNDS 负责运营。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。