The primary goal of the joint venture is the industrial development and subsequent marketing of the new Italian main battle tank (MBT) and the new Lynx platform for the Armoured Infantry Combat System (AICS) programme as part of the Italian Army's programme for land systems.

The agreement signed by Roberto Cingolani, Leonardo CEO and General Manager, and Armin Papperger, Rheinmetall AG CEO, also includes the development and production of other vehicles of this family, such as recovery, engineer and bridge-laying vehicles.

As Roberto Cingolani explains, “this is a significant step towards the creation of a European Defence system based on specialized shared platforms. Rheinmetall and Leonardo aim at developing state-of-the-art technologies able to compete at international level.”