Leonardo and Rheinmetall have signed Italy’s first production contract for the Lynx KF41 infantry fighting vehicle — but the decision to adopt the platform was in fact taken long before. Italian defence ministry had selected the German-designed, Italian-built Lynx as their preferred candidate for the AICS (Armoured Infantry Combat System) programme in late 2024, and testing that began in January 2025 was conducted not to compare options but to validate an already-made choice.
The new agreement, announced on 5 November 2025, therefore marks the formalisation rather than the initiation of Italy’s Lynx procurement. Rheinmetall had delivered a prototype to the Italian Army’s Cecchignola test centre in Rome early this year, where mobility, firepower and digital-network trials confirmed the platform’s compliance with Italian and NATO standards.
Under the contract signed through the Leonardo Rheinmetall Military Vehicles (LRMV) joint venture, 21 vehicles will be produced in an initial batch: five configured in Rheinmetall’s standard KF41 form with the Lance 2.0 turret and sixteen carrying Leonardo’s Hitfist 30 turret. Deliveries are due to start in late 2025, with roughly 60 percent of workshare and subsystem integration taking place in Italy.
The Lynx selection had been politically and industrially anchored well before the November announcement. In 2024 Rome and Berlin agreed to align future armoured-vehicle development under the European Defence Fund framework, and Leonardo’s partnership with Rheinmetall — announced that October — effectively positioned Lynx as Italy’s chosen vehicle.
What the November contract changes is not the decision itself but its execution: it defines local production, technology transfer and funding. By signing it, Italy converts a settled strategic choice into a binding industrial programme.
