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The Italian defense company Leonardo and the European defense holding KNDS, the merger of the German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and the French Nexter, have agreed to work together more intensively in the future. In a joint press release, the companies informed about the strategic alliance decided upon - under the auspices of the Italian Ministry of Defense. One goal is to create a real European defense group.

Specifically, the collaboration is aimed at two projects: the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), which is currently a German-French program, and the Leopard 2 A8, which is being developed under Germany's procurement contract (ESuTreported) with KMW, the German KNDS share, is on the Italians' wish list.

“In addition, Leonardo and KNDS signed an agreement to jointly implement the planned main battle tank (MBT) procurement program with a solution based on the Leopard 2 A8. The companies will collaborate on the development, manufacture and maintenance of the Leopard 2 A8 solution for the Italian Army, as well as support platforms,” the press statement said.

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In the absence of first pictures of the Leopard 2 A8 or MGCS, here is the often shown look at a Leopard 2 A7A1, which marks the current top of the Leopard 2 series. (Photo: EuroTrophy)

As part of the collaboration, further production and development capacities are to be created in Italy, which can be used for future European and export projects.

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The Italian Ministry of Defense has described the equipment of the armed forces in the Documento Programmatico Difesa 2023-2025. To renew the land forces, it lists programs for the procurement of the Leopard main battle tank with support vehicles and new infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) plus combat support systems under the program name AICS (Armored Infantry Combat System). The alliance also supported the strategy set out in the action plan of the agreement recently signed by the governments of Italy and Germany.

The involvement of the Italian company Leonardo could prove to be an important step towards a European arms consortium if resources can be pooled through division of labor. Collaboration as partners on equal terms is required, in which national particularities are taken into account but national interests should be put aside in favor of the community.

Editorial staff / gwh

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