Lithuania has signed an industrial cooperation agreement with KNDS, Rheinmetall and EPSO-G to establish local assembly and maintenance facilities for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks, with the first tanks assembled domestically from 2028. The Baltic country joined the Leopard 2 Common Procurement Agreement in 2024 and signed a follow-on contract later that year for 44 Leopard 2A8 tanks.
The Leonardo Rheinmetall Military Vehicles joint venture has received its first contract to supply 21 A2CS Combat vehicles to the Italian Army, marking a major step in Italy–Germany defence cooperation and European industrial integration. The supply is part of the Italian Army’s A2CS – Army Armoured Combat System program, which plans for a total acquisition of 1,050 armoured combat vehicles to replace its current heavy vehicle fleet.
German arms company Rheinmetall and Italy’s Leonardo will build the Panther KF51 Main Battle Tank for the Italian Army via a new company in addition to building a thousand variants of the Lynx Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
Russia has set up manufacturing of the Mango armour-piercing tank round in India, designed to be fired from the guns of T-72 and T-90 Main Battle Tanks and penetrate composite armour. It has also announced the delivery of 35,000 AK203 rifles to the Indian defence ministry, manufactured by the Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited joint venture at Korwa Ordnance Factory in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.
The Main Ground Combat System project is conceived around not just a new main battle tank design, but also a series of systems and vehicles built off that platform that will connect battle tanks in a data network with support weapons such as drones and other unmanned systems.
The USD 1.01 billion order is for the Arjun Mk 1A MBT variant developed by CVRDE and other laboratories of DRDO and will be produced by Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF), Avadi.
DRDO’s AR Balasubramanium takes us around the Arjun Catapult at DefExpo, 2014, a system that could soon be firing salvos for Indian artillery.
Defense Minister Arackaparambil Kurian Antony will be on a three-day visit to Russia next week, but will not get a chance to witness the ambitious Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) flight demonstration due to scheduling problems.
India will begin production of an upgraded version of the indigenous Arjun Main Battle Tank (MBT) by early 2014, an official said here Monday.
Saab’s Barracuda Camouflage has pitched its systems for both vehicles as well as soldiers.
