What is being said in the army about the Leopard 2A8 case and the rift between Knds and Leonardo

A bolt from the blue has shattered the Italian and European military industrial landscape.

At present, given the official press releases issued by the companies involved, the Leopard 2A8 program for which a strategic partnership agreement had been signed between Knds De and Leonardo has been cancelled.

The vital program for the needs of the Italian Army concerned the production of 132 Leopard 2A8 tanks and 140 special versions with which to replace the over forty Leopard 1 tanks in the various versions set up for the Engineers and for the recovery/rescue of vehicles damaged and unable to move.

The agreement signed between the two industrial groups with a view to strengthening the European military industry upon input and with the blessing of the Italian Ministry of Defense at Palazzo Guidoni, headquarters of the General Secretariat of Defense and National Armaments Directorate (Segredifesa), provided for the extensive Italian industrial participation in the preparation of these tanks and special versions with the creation of a specific production line in Italy.

In addition to licensed production, the Italian side asked Knds De for a strong Italianization of the Leopard 2A8; probably, it is precisely on this point that the agreement fell through, with the German counterpart not accepting the idea of ​​a Leopard 2A8 IT that diverged too much from the basic Leopard 2S8, creating a vehicle that could become a competing alternative with what was produced by KNDS DE and which required investments for construction to meet SME requirements, also because Berlin is starting to talk about a new tank which will be the real trait d’union between the Leopard 2 and the MGCS.

We remind you that the Leopard 2A8 program had been authorized by SMD and by Parliament which, together with the competent Commissions, had approved its purchase with the related financial coverage.

It must be said that SME had previously started the mid-life modernization program (AMV) of the Ariete which originally should have involved 125 tanks, then reduced to 90 with an option for the other 35 also in anticipation of the acquisition of the Leopard 2A8.

Now, with the collapse of the Leopard 2A8 program, the selection of the foreign partner with which Leonardo will have to collaborate for the new tank and for the A2CS program, already known as AICS, which involves the construction of 1,200 examples prepared in different versions including one armed with a 120 mm cannon.

All this will obviously have repercussions on the delivery times of the first new tanks to the Italian Army which will have to grit its teeth with the Ariete AMVs for a longer period of time than expected and which will probably have to review the number of specimens to be subjected to modernization , restoring the original projects, exercising the envisaged option.

Furthermore, the collapse of the agreement will probably also have effects on Italian participation in the MGCS program which was closely linked to that of the Leopard 2A8, participation to which France was strongly opposed, despite what Leonardo stated in the press release, with which it announced the conclusion negative outcome of the negotiations with Knds De, to remain well positioned for future developments towards the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), also through cooperation with other qualified international partners.

The alternatives at the moment seem to be represented by the KF-51 Panther proposed by Rheinmetall, a partner of Knds De in the Leopard 2A8 programme, a vehicle belonging to the extended Lynx family which allows it to be fitted out in various versions, all to be developed on which there could be margins for maneuver above all to make it more Italian as a product, and the K2 Black Panther developed in South Korea more secluded, considering the hypothesis concerning the US M1 Abrams unlikely.

We will see what will happen in the coming weeks and months, with negotiations to be started or deepened with new and old interlocutors and with the requirements for SME which will have to be redefined given the impossibility of obtaining the Leopard 2A8.

Article published on aredifesa.it