Rheinmetall, Leonardo pitch new Italy tank pact as a model for Europe

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 on Tuesday 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.

Rheinmetall’s under-development Panther KF51 will be the basis of a new main battle tank to replace Italy’s Ariete tanks, with 132 to be supplied in an €8 billion program due to run until 2035, with the first tank to be delivered in two and a half to three years.

Papperger said a 130mm gun would be ready for the tank in three years if the Italian government wanted it.

Asked why Leonardo had broken off its talks with KNDS to furnish the Italian army with the Leopard, Cingolani said KNDS had only been able to promise the first tank in five years.

In their statement, the firms said that Leonardo will be responsible for mission systems, electronics suites and weapons on the vehicles destined for the Italian army.

Papperger said a half-hour discussion with Cingolani about combining Rheinmetall’s platforms with Leonardo’s digitalization capabilities was enough to convince them to do the deal.

“It was clear that complementarity with Rheinmetall was very high,” said Cingolani.

The new vehicles would “Very likely (be) the most advanced on the continent, on the planet,” he added.

Papperger said that the vehicles had export potential. “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 said, adding that most of the 5,000 main battle tanks in the world were at least 35 years old.

He predicted that the new JV’s revenue could run to €2 billion to €4 billion a year, with profitability at 15 percent.

Cingolani said that by networking the new vehicles, further business opportunities were in store.

“Those machines will talk to satellites and super computers and other platforms and we have room to develop more and newer technologies to integrate into these platforms,” he said.

Papperger said the deal with Leonardo would not affect its commitment to building a new European tank with KNDS, which he said was due to be ready in 2040.

“At the moment we have war, and there is need over the next ten years for infantry fighting vehicles and tanks,” he said.

The European tank program, he added, “Is a different approach and it is not dead.”

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——莱茵金属公司和莱昂纳多公司周二宣布签署合资协议，并表示将在两年内向意大利陆军交付一款新型步兵战车，并在三年内交付一款新型主战坦克。

两家公司在一份声明中表示，这家名为莱昂纳多·莱茵金属军用车辆公司（LRMV）的50-50合资企业总部将设在罗马，运营总部设在意大利地面车辆制造中心拉斯佩齐亚。

该合资企业是为了响应意大利军队对新型战斗车辆和坦克的需求而成立的，其中莱昂纳多公司占50%的工作份额，德国莱茵金属公司占40%，剩余的10%由莱茵金属公司在意大利的工厂承担。

该合资企业被两家公司称为“欧洲军用作战车辆研发和生产的新核心”，是继7月份签署谅解备忘录之后成立的。

此外，此前莱昂纳多和KNDS的汽车制造计划也宣告失败，原因是这家法德财团拒绝了莱昂纳多的工作分担要求。

莱昂纳多首席执行官罗伯托·辛戈拉尼在罗马举行的新闻发布会上表示，欧洲企业需要联合起来，成为欧洲大陆的“向导”，引领各国政府走向产业一体化，即使这意味着他们可能会失去“一小部分”国内市场。

“我们希望这能成为建设一个更安全的欧洲的种子，”他补充道。

与他一同发言的莱茵金属公司首席执行官阿明·帕佩格尔表示：“我们花了 3-4 个月的时间谈判完成了所有事宜，并最终实现了目标。”

该协议涉及为意大利军队制造 1,050 辆基于莱茵金属“山猫”的新型步兵战车，以取代意大利老旧的“达尔多”战车。

管理人员表示，该项目将提供 16 个不同版本，首辆车将在两年内交付，项目将持续到 2040 年，耗资 150 亿欧元（164 亿美元）。

莱茵金属公司正在研发的“黑豹”KF51坦克将成为意大利新型主战坦克的基础，以取代意大利的“阿里埃特”坦克。这项耗资80亿欧元的计划将供应132辆坦克，该计划预计将持续到2035年，首辆坦克将在两到三年内交付。

帕佩格尔表示，如果意大利政府需要，130毫米火炮将在三年内准备好安装到坦克上。

当被问及莱昂纳多为何中断与 KNDS 就向意大利军队提供豹式坦克进行的谈判时，辛戈拉尼表示，KNDS 只能承诺在五年内交付第一辆坦克。

两家公司在声明中表示，莱昂纳多公司将负责为意大利军队提供的车辆的任务系统、电子设备和武器。

帕佩格尔表示，与辛戈拉尼就莱茵金属的平台与莱昂纳多的数字化能力相结合进行了半小时的讨论，就足以说服他们达成这笔交易。

“很明显，我们与莱茵金属的互补性非常高，”辛戈拉尼说。

他补充说，这些新车“很可能是非洲大陆乃至全球最先进的车辆”。

帕佩格尔表示，这些车辆具有出口潜力。“我们主要面向意大利市场，但未来也会瞄准其他需要对其作战系统进行现代化改造的伙伴国家，”他说道，并补充说，世界上5000辆主战坦克中的大多数至少有35年的历史。

他预测，新合资企业的收入每年可达 20 亿至 40 亿欧元，盈利能力为 15%。

Cingolani表示，通过联网这些新车，将会有更多商机。

他说：“这些机器将与卫星、超级计算机和其他平台进行通信，我们还有空间开发更多更新的技术，并将其集成到这些平台中。”

帕佩格尔表示，与莱昂纳多公司的交易不会影响其与KNDS公司合作建造新型欧洲坦克的承诺，他表示该坦克预计将于2040年完工。

他说：“目前我们正处于战争时期，未来十年都需要步兵战车和坦克。”

他补充说，欧洲坦克计划“采取了不同的方法，而且它还没有终止”。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。