Collaboration will mainly focus on land-based electronics
Leonardo and KNDS have signed an agreement on 13 December to create a “truly European Defence Group” and develop a more intensive cooperation, especially in land-based electronics. The deal was sealed under the auspices of the Italian Ministry of Defence.
The idea behind such a strategic alliance is to enable the implementation of programs in cooperation with other European countries and develop the future generation of armoured vehicle platforms, including the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS).
According to Leonardo, the two companies’ alliance is in line with the Italian Defence Ministry’s strategy included in the Italian defence agenda 2023-2025 and the Action Plan of the Agreement recently signed by the Governments of Italy and Germany.
In addition, Leonardo and KNDS have also signed an agreement to jointly implement the planned Main Battle Tank (MBT) procurement programme with a solution based on LEOPARD 2 A8. The companies will collaborate in developing, manufacturing and maintaining the LEOPARD 2 A8 solution for the Italian Army and the support platforms.
The alliance between Leonardo and KNDS aims to create further production and development capabilities in Italy and to use these for future European and export projects.
The Italian Ministry of Defence is currently working on two major programs for the renewal of its Land Forces: the procurement of the LEOPARD MBT with support vehicles and new Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV) under the programme name AICS plus combat support systems.
