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Germans and Italians join forces. “New heavyweight” in the arms factory. The first multi-billion order has already been placed

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The Bundeswehr has had it in its inventory for decades tanks Leopard combat vehicles, produced by Rheinmetall and KMW. Now they are opening for Rheinmetall Italy new possibilities. The focus there will be on the Panther. In a joint company, the establishment of which was announced in Romeeach partner has 50 percent of the shares.

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They hope to receive formal approval from the authorities by early 2025. The first large order, with a total value of over EUR 20 billion, it came from the Italian army. The headquarters of the new company will be located in Rome. The operations center is to be located in the northern Italian port city of La Spezia, where Leonardo already has a factory.

60 percent of the business is to be located in Italy. This will primarily involve the construction of combat vehicles and infantry fighting vehicles – for the armies of European countries, but also those from outside the continent.

Recipients not only in the EU

The Panther developed by Rheinmetall is to be the basis of a new steel armored combat vehicle, and the basis of the new infantry vehicle is to be the RyÅ› (Lynx) produced by Rheinmetall.

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Both companies signed a letter of intent in July. – We are creating a new heavyweight in the European design of combat vehicles – said the president of Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger. The company “is primarily focused on the Italian market, but in the future it will also open up to other partner countries that need to modernize their combat systems.”

Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani said the goal is to develop cutting-edge technologies that will be internationally competitive.

A bulging order book

The Italian Leonardo Group emerged from the former state-owned company Finmeccanica. The Italian state is still the largest single shareholder. Leonardo employs over 50,000 people and has recently generated an annual turnover of over 15 billion euro. The Italian company is also involved in the construction of F-35 and Eurofighter fighters, and is a supplier to Airbus and Boeing.

Rheinmetall is the largest German arms group, with sales of EUR 7.2 billion in 2023 and 34,000 employees. The Düsseldorf-based company now has more orders than ever, with demand skyrocketing since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. (dpa/sug)

The article comes from the website Deutsche Welle



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