Italy to purchase over 1400 armored vehicles from Rheinmetall

29 January, 2025 Panther KF51 tank. Photo credits: Rheinmetall The Italian Ministry of Defense plans to purchase more than 1400 armored vehicles from the German company Rheinmetall.

At the International Armoured Vehicles 2025 conference in Farnborough, new details emerged about Italy's ambitious plans to modernize its armored forces. The updated plans should strengthen Italy's land component by increasing the tank order to 380 units instead of 138. These tanks will undergo significant modifications to meet Italian operational requirements in a process referred to as "Italianisation."

KF41 Lynx infantry fighting vehicle.

Photo credits: Rheinmetall

Plans to purchase armored vehicles under the A2CS program will also be increased by 50 units, totaling 1,050 Lynx armored vehicles in 10 versions. Of this number, 649 units will be in the infantry fighting vehicle variant and will replace the existing Dardo armored vehicles in the Italian military. The Italian Ministry of Defense has not yet announced how much money will be spent on this purchase, but it is expected to be more than EUR30 billion, excluding the preparation of the Italian industry for localization of production.

Although the exact budget for this initiative remains undisclosed, it is expected to exceed EUR10 billion.

Italian C1 Ariete main battle tank. Photo credits: Italian Army

Currently, the Italian Army has already received the first KF41 infantry fighting vehicle from Rheinmetall, which is to be used for comprehensive testing to confirm compliance with the requirements of the Ministry of Defense. Initially, the Italian Ministry of Defense submitted a request to purchase 132 Leopard 2A8 tanks, which were to be produced in Italy with a significant share of Italian components.

Despite the success of the negotiations, KNDS, on its own initiative, stopped discussions on further signing of the contract, as it did not support Italian plans to "Italianize" the combat vehicle.

Militarnyi previously reported that the Iveco - Oto Melara consortium signed a contract to supply 76 VBM Plus armored combat vehicles for the Italian Armed Forces.