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Description:
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Back in 2022, when the Russo-Ukrainian war broke out, among the various nations of Western Europe, Italy understood that high intensity war was not just something that faded away after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War but a part of modern reality that couldn’t have just been overlooked. Thus, alongside most of Europe’s nations, the Italian government allocated a significant additional amount of funds to the armed forces to allow them to modernize to better react to this new and hostile environment. The Italian Army in particular finally found itself with a good amount of resources to fix the sorry state of its armored division, which had been shrunk down in the last two decades, receiving next to no upgrades or spare parts. Indeed, the C1 Ariete, after being pressed into service in a very small amount compared to what had been initially planned, never ever received a single upgrade for 20 years and was only starting to get some form of mid-life upgrade now, and even then the timeline for said upgrades was far too slow, with the upgrades being a good refresh but sadly not enough, lacking blowout panels, an RWS, and an APS, to name a few. Moreover, the units fitted with them had received very little in terms of spare parts due to the constrained budget; thus, out of the original 200 units, many were in an inoperable state due to them being cannibalized of their parts in order to keep others running, diminishing even further the already small number of tanks. The same applied to the other Italian tracked vehicle in service with the infantry regiments, the VCC-80, which, albeit being in a better position spare parts-wise compared to the Ariete, received no upgrades, and plans for mid-life upgrades like the Ariete were considered only for a small amount of time, after which they were discontinued. With the new funds, the Italian army started acquisition projects for two new families of tracked vehicles: one that could replace the VCC-80 Dardo and the various legacy M113s still in service, named A2CS, and the other that could have strengthened the armored division and replaced the old utility and recovery Leopard 1. The former of the two saw a plenty of competitors under consideration, namely the latest version of the Swedish CV90, the the German KF41 Puma, the Tracked Boxer by KNDS, and at the very end ever the Korean Redback, made by Hanwa. Initially it looked like the winner would have been an Italo-German derivate of the Tracked Boxer due to the Leo2A8 being chosed as the new MBT, but after that project fell short this proposal quietly vanished as well. After Rheinmetall stepped in proposing it’s new top of the line products, the ifv competition was quickly won by the German KF41, which was to be modified with a plenty of Italian pieces made by the Companies Leonardo and IDV, as promised by the German defense giant. This modified version would have featured various Italian pieces like the turret, equipped with the new X-GUN 30 mm cannon made by Leonardo, a new engine made by IDV, Hitrole RWS, command and control sistems, optics and others. The Italian Army ordered a total of 1034 units in many versions, such as IFV, anty tank, scout, light tank, ambulance, ammo carrier, APC and others. But implementing Italian parts would have required a plenty time, and the Italian Army was running short of it, thus 26 additional units were ordered, 5 in the “As is” configuration (all in all identical to the Hungarian version) and 21 with the off the shelf hull, but with the Italian hitfist 30 turret, for commonality with the new VBM NG. The first 5 units are also supposed to be upgraded in said configuration later on. The first unit of the initial batch was delivered and showaces during the annual Italian military parade of the second of june, while the remaining 4 units were delivered in february 2026. In the same day, an additional batch of 30 units was issued to the consortium, due to the need of additional stop gap units. The first unit in said configuration was presented by LMRV at Eurosatory 2026, alongside the first demonstrator of the NMBT.
Specifications
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Sources:
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HITFIST®
Lynx – The new-gen combat vehicle | Rheinmetall
https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/01/02/italy-gets-lynx-fighting-vehicle-for-testing-ahead-of-first-contract/
Leonardo and Rheinmetall establish joint venture | Rheinmetall
Presentato il programma A2CS del Esercito Italiano
https://suv.report/a2cs-leonardo-und-rheinmetall-praesentieren-modulare-kampffahrzeugfamilie/
Pictures:
