Romania picks Rheinmetall’s Lynx combat vehicle in $4 billion acquisition

WARSAW, Poland — The Romanian Ministry of National Defence has selected Rheinmetall’s Lynx KF41 infantry fighting vehicle to replace the military’s outdated Soviet-times MLI-84 tracked vehicle. The planned acquisition is estimated to be worth around €3.4 billion (US$4 billion).

The IFV procurement was included on the list of projects that Bucharest aims to finance with the use of the European Union’s Security Action For Europe (SAFE) loans. On April 29, the national defense ministry submitted the list to the Romanian parliament for its approval, a spokesperson for the ministry told Defense News.

The EU has made available to Romania around €16.7 billion in low-cost loans which potentially makes the country the second-largest beneficiary of the program, preceded only by Poland which was allocated roughly €44 billion. In addition to the tracked vehicle purchase, other military procurements that Romania seeks to finance with SAFE-backed loans include acquisitions of new helicopters, wheeled armored vehicles, air-defense systems, vessels, unmanned systems, as well as personal weapons and ammunition, among others.

The IFV purchase is scheduled to be carried out in stages and completed in 2030, according to the ministry representative.

“Under this initiative, 232 infantry fighting vehicles will be financed via the SAFE mechanism and produced by Rheinmetall at its Romanian facility in Mediaș. The remaining units, bringing the total to 298, will be covered through alternative funding sources. This program aims to equip the land forces with a total of 298 units,” the spokesperson said.

To strengthen its foothold in the Romanian market, Rheinmetall purchased a majority stake in local military vehicle maker Automecanica Mediaș in 2024.

The spokesperson said that the acquisition program will necessitate a considerable level of participation of Romania’s defense sector which is to cooperate with Rheinmetall.

“It should be noted that the new procurement contracts will ensure the significant involvement of the national defense industry and will be finalized through negotiations with both domestic and European defense operators,” according to the ministry representative. “The selection process for these economic operators is currently underway at both the Ministry of National Defence and governmental level.”

Romania made its choice between a number of vehicles pitched by producers who are competing for a rising number of IFV orders in this part of Europe. In addition to the Lynx, these are said to include the CV90 made by BAE Systems Hägglunds in Sweden, the AS21 Redback offered by South Korea’s Hanwha, and the Ascod by General Dynamics European Land Systems. A committee comprising national defense ministry officials and representatives of state-owned defense company Romtehnica was tasked with picking the winner.

In July 2025, as the Romanian government kicked off the acquisition program, the country’s authorities said that, after an initial batch of vehicles is manufactured by the selected producer, the nation’s state-dominated defense industry would take over production activities and make the remaining IFVs.

Bucharest’s objective is “to protect the supply chain through a technology transfer of the assembly, integration, testing and maintenance capabilities for the aforementioned technology and products to Romania,” the ministry said in a statement.

Owing to the latest development, Romania is set to become another Lynx user on NATO’s eastern flank, joining Hungary which, in 2020, became the vehicle’s first-ever taker with an order for 218 units. As part of the procurement, in August 2023, Rheinmetall opened a new factory in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary, to accommodate the vehicle’s production.

In January 2026, Rheinmetall announced that Germany will bankroll the delivery of five Lynx vehicles to Ukraine , marking the country’s accession to what the producer brands as a larger-scale procurement program for the next-generation IFV. In the long term, the tracked vehicle is to be made in Ukraine, according to the company.

“The decision in favor of the Lynx KF41 was made after extensive testing of the next-generation infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). The IFVs will feature the two-man Lance turret and be configured specifically for … Ukraine’s armed forces. The next step is to procure additional batches, including production in Ukraine,” the German group said in a statement.

Also last January, the Italian military obtained a batch of four Lynx IFVs, the first in a large-scale, planned order covering 1,050 units under which Italian group Leonardo is joining forces with Rheinmetall.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——罗马尼亚国防部已选定莱茵金属公司的“山猫”KF41步兵战车，以取代军方老旧的苏联时期MLI-84履带式战车。此次采购计划预计价值约34亿欧元（40亿美元）。

步兵战车采购项目已被列入布加勒斯特计划利用欧盟“欧洲安全行动”（SAFE）贷款进行融资的项目清单中。国防部发言人告诉《防务新闻》，4月29日，国防部已将该清单提交罗马尼亚议会批准。

欧盟已向罗马尼亚提供约167亿欧元的低息贷款，这可能使罗马尼亚成为该计划的第二大受益国，仅次于获得约440亿欧元拨款的波兰。除了购买履带式车辆外，罗马尼亚还计划利用SAFE担保贷款为其他军事采购项目提供资金，包括采购新型直升机、轮式装甲车、防空系统、舰艇、无人系统以及个人武器弹药等。

据该部代表称，步兵战车采购计划分阶段进行，将于 2030 年完成。

发言人表示：“根据这项计划，将通过SAFE机制融资232辆步兵战车，由莱茵金属公司在其位于罗马尼亚梅迪亚什的工厂生产。剩余的298辆战车将通过其他融资渠道获得。该计划旨在为陆军配备共计298辆战车。”

为了巩固其在罗马尼亚市场的地位，莱茵金属于 2024 年收购了当地军用车辆制造商 Automecanica Mediaș 的多数股权。

发言人表示，该采购计划需要罗马尼亚国防部门的大量参与，他们将与莱茵金属公司合作。

据国防部代表称，“值得注意的是，新的采购合同将确保国防工业的深度参与，并将通过与国内外国防运营商的谈判最终敲定。目前，国防部和政府层面都在进行这些经济运营商的遴选工作。”

罗马尼亚从多家厂商竞相推出的步兵战车中做出选择，这些厂商都在争夺欧洲这一地区日益增长的步兵战车订单。除了“山猫”步兵战车外，据称这些候选车型还包括瑞典BAE系统公司哈格隆德分公司生产的CV90步兵战车、韩国韩华公司提供的AS21“红背蜘蛛”步兵战车以及通用动力欧洲陆地系统公司提供的“阿斯科德”步兵战车。一个由国防部官员和国有国防企业罗马尼亚技术公司（Romtehnica）代表组成的委员会负责最终选定中标者。

2025 年 7 月，罗马尼亚政府启动采购计划时，该国当局表示，在选定的生产商生产出第一批车辆后，该国国有国防工业将接管生产活动，并制造剩余的步兵战车。

该部在一份声明中表示，布加勒斯特的目标是“通过向罗马尼亚转让上述技术和产品的组装、集成、测试和维护能力，来保护供应链”。

由于最新进展，罗马尼亚将成为北约东翼又一个“山猫”装甲车用户，此前匈牙利已于2020年成为该型装甲车的首个订购国，订购了218辆。作为采购的一部分，莱茵金属公司于2023年8月在匈牙利扎拉埃格塞格开设了一家新工厂，专门用于生产该型装甲车。

2026年1月，莱茵金属公司宣布德国将资助向乌克兰交付五辆“山猫”（Lynx）步兵战车，标志着乌克兰正式加入该公司所称的更大规模的下一代步兵战车采购计划。该公司表示，从长远来看，这款履带式战车将在乌克兰生产。

德国集团在一份声明中表示：“经过对下一代步兵战车（IFV）的广泛测试，最终决定采购Lynx KF41。该型战车将配备双人Lance炮塔，并根据乌克兰武装部队的具体需求进行定制。下一步是采购更多批次，包括在乌克兰进行生产。”

同样在去年一月，意大利军方获得了四辆“山猫”步兵战车，这是意大利莱昂纳多集团与莱茵金属公司联合订购的1050辆大型计划订单中的第一批。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。