New German big cats circle Italian Leopard corpse (Opinion)
Does Rheinmetall hold the future of Italian heavy armour in its hands via the KF41 Lynx and the recently unveiled KF51U? (Photo: Sam Hart)
The only thing missing from Rheinmetall’s display at Eurosatory this year was an Italian flag flown between its KF-51 Panther and KF41 Lynx. The smiles on the faces of its business development team, however, and the circling of Italian delegations told just as clear of a story.
Following the collapse of negotiations earlier this month for 125 Italian Leopard 2A8s between KNDS and Leonardo, Italy’s two largest vehicle programmes worth north of a combined US$11 billion have been thrown wide open.
As the only platform the Italian Government outwardly considered in 2023 for its unexpected requirement for an order of 125 new MBTs, the apparent deselection of Leopard 2 has thrown the programme back into speculation, right as the European MBT market received an array of new ‘interim’ platforms at this year’s Eurosatory.
One manufacturer no doubt pleased by the collapse of the Leopard 2A8s is Rheinmetall,
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