Italy Launches Next-Gen Armored Fleet with Leonardo–Rheinmetall Lynx Fighting Vehicles.

Italy has placed its first order for 21 A2CS combat vehicles, combining Rheinmetall’s KF41 Lynx platform with Leonardo’s Hitfist turret. The deal anchors Italy’s next-generation armored program and strengthens European defense cooperation inside NATO.

Leonardo and Rheinmetall announced on November 5, 2025, that Italy placed its first A2CS Combat order for 21 tracked armored vehicles, starting with five Lynx KF41 fitted with Rheinmetall’s Lance turret and followed by sixteen KF41 chassis mounting Leonardo’s Hitfist 30 mm turret, with the whole tranche slated to be upgraded to the Hitfist configuration. The package includes training and simulation systems plus options for 30 additional vehicles, and the first delivery is expected by the end of 2025.
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Italy's new A2CS IFVs pair the Lynx KF41's 1,100 hp mobility with the Hitfist 30 mm turret, high protection with optional APS, open-architecture C2, counter-UAS readiness, and seating for eight dismounts (Picture source: Rheinmetall).

Rheinmetall issued a matching release and underscored that Leonardo Rheinmetall Military Vehicles, the 50–50 joint venture registered in Rome with operational headquarters in La Spezia, will execute about 60 percent of integration, qualification, deliveries, logistics support and part of production in Italy. “Cooperation is not optional anymore, it is the very essence of European strategic sovereignty,” the JV’s executive chairman said, capturing the program’s political weight. Contract value for this initial lot was not disclosed.

At the vehicle level, Italy is buying into a contemporary 40–50 ton-class IFV with growth headroom. The KF41 pairs a Liebherr diesel rated at over 1,100 horsepower to a Renk HSWL 256 automatic transmission, yielding MBT-like mobility and a 70 km/h road speed. Rheinmetall lists more than 60 percent gradient, 30 percent side slope, 2.5 m trench, 1.0 m vertical obstacle and 1.5 m fording, figures that matter for contested river lines and urban obstacle belts. Survivability options include the StrikeShield hard-kill active protection, ROSY obscurants, modular add-on armor and enhanced mine protection. Crew layout is three plus eight dismounts, with a digital backbone designed for open-architecture integrations.

Firepower on the first five vehicles comes via the Lance family turret with the 30×173 mm MK30-2/ABM cannon. The system supports dual-feed ammunition, programmable airburst effects and a controlled rate of 200 rounds per minute, with effective engagement out to roughly 3 km, plus growth for twin ATGM launchers. Italy’s standard configuration converges on Leonardo’s two-man Hitfist turret, qualified for 25, 30 or 40 mm guns, more than 220 ready rounds in current datasheets, stabilized hunter-killer sights and provisions for dual ATGM launchers such as Spike. This mix restores overmatch against BMP-3 class threats and gives Italian gunners a familiar human-machine interface carried over from Freccia and Dardo.

Beyond raw protection and firepower, the Italian spec leverages an open electronic architecture tied into Forza NEC, the Army’s digitization program. That makes it straightforward to embed SICCONA battle management, Blue Force tracking and sovereign SDR radios on day one, while leaving hooks for counter-UAS sensors, hard-kill interceptors and manned-unmanned teaming as tactics evolve. In short, with eight dismounts under armor and a 1,000-plus horsepower powerpack, the platform restores mechanized infantry mass and tempo that Italy has lacked as the Dardo fleet aged.

A2CS replaces VCC-80 Dardo and M113 derivatives and underpins a heavy-force refresh aligned with a parallel MBT track inside the same JV. The Army’s plan, formerly labeled AICS and now A2CS, targets about 1,050 armored combat vehicles across IFV, command, air defense, anti-tank, 120 mm mortar, reconnaissance and combat engineering variants; one KF41 arrived in Italy in December 2024 for trials at Montelibretti and Nettuno before today’s order. This first lot is a pilot to lock the configuration, verify integration and scale up.

Against Europe’s top IFVs, Italy’s choice lands in the leading bracket on volume, growth and industrialization. BAE Systems’ CV90 Mk IV brings a modern 1,000 hp powerpack and 35/50 mm gun growth with eight dismounts, a mature rival in northern fleets. Germany’s Puma emphasizes compactness and protection, pairs an 800 kW engine to MUSS soft-kill APS and carries six dismounts, trading interior volume for survivability in a tight silhouette. GDELS’s ASCOD 2 is a versatile modular platform now fielded across NATO with open electronics and hard-kill options. Rome is clearly paying for payload and interior space, plus a JV industrial model optimized for localization.

The contracting authority did not release unit cost, ceiling value or receiving formations for this starter batch, a common practice when pilot lots are focused on qualification and industrial ramp. Reuters has previously reported multiyear Italian heavy-armor investments running into the billions across A2CS and the new MBT, framing the scale that will follow if options convert and serial contracts are signed.

For training and sustainment, the contract includes simulators for drivers, gunners and full crews, and the JV is committed to executing the majority of integration and in-service support in Italy. That in-country sustainment, plus sovereign turret and C4I content, compresses downtime and keeps configuration control with the customer, a lesson relearned across Europe since 2022.

The Leonardo–Rheinmetall partnership matters beyond Italy. By pooling German IP and Italian production and funneling 60 percent of activities to Italian sites, the joint venture builds a European armored-vehicle pole aligned with Brussels instruments like EDIRPA and the new EDIP initiative that incentivize joint procurement, industrial ramp-up and strategic autonomy inside the Union. In practical terms, it anchors jobs, shortens supply chains and creates an exportable architecture with an ITAR-light subsystem stack. Historically, the path here runs from Dardo replacement studies to AICS, the 2024–2025 trials of a Lynx in Italy, and the 2024 formation of LRMV after separate talks with other European partners fell short.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.