Italy wants to spend $24 billion on the latest Lynx and Panther armoured vehicles as soon as possible

Italian Chief of Defence Staff General Luciano Portolano called on Leonardo and Rheinmetall to fulfil orders for tanks and combat vehicles worth $24 billion as soon as possible.

Here's What We Know

Leonardo and Rheinmetall have set up a joint venture to produce 1,050 Lynx combat vehicles and 272 Panther tanks to replace the Italian army's outdated equipment. The first five Lynx are due to be delivered to Italy this year, with mass deliveries scheduled for 2026-2027.

In total, Italy will receive 132 Panther main battle tanks and 140 auxiliary vehicles, including evacuation and engineering vehicles. Production will be launched at the La Spezia assembly line, with peak output expected in 2031 at 171 vehicles per year.

The Rheinmetall Panther KF51 tank. Illustration: Rheinmetall

The Lynx will be produced in five variants covering 16 combat roles, including versions with a 120mm gun, 30mm gun, mortar, air defence and a turretless version. Rheinmetall will produce 52 120mm guns for the Panther, while Leonardo will produce 80, with the two companies sharing the production of the hulls equally.

Portolano stressed that speeding up production is critical to the country's security, saying that "time is of the essence". It is likely that he prefers to prepare Italy for future challenges.

Source: Defence News