According to information published on the Twitter account of "A-129 Mangusta" on March 8, 2023, citing an interview with Lieutenant General Pietro Serino, Chief of Staff of the Italian army, Italy is looking to purchase up to 250 German-made Leopard 2A7 Main Battle Tanks for an amount of €8 billion.
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German-made Leopard 2A7 Main Battle Tank MBT. (Picture source Army Recognition)
The Italian government has not yet officially confirmed this information. Citing an Italian military source, Italy plans to acquire 125 Leopard 2A7 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) and not 250.
Currently, the MBT in service with the Italian army is the C1 Ariete, an Italian-made tank jointly developed by the companies Oto Melara and IVECO. For the Ariete MBT, Oto Melara had overall responsibility with IVECO being responsible for the powerpack and suspension system. The first production Ariete MBT was delivered late in 1995 and the final production vehicles were delivered to the Italian Army in 2002.
Recently, the Italian army has received a new upgraded version of the Ariete tank fitted with a new engine. The tank also features new tracks and transmission. In terms of protection, the hull and the turret are fitted with a new armor package to increase protection against modern anti-tank guided missiles and RPGs (Rocket-Propelled Grenades).
Leopard 2A7 is a modern main battle tank (MBT) developed and produced by the German defense company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW). It is the latest variant of the Leopard 2 series of tanks, which have been in service with various countries since the 1970s.
The Leopard 2A7 has several upgrades and improvements over its predecessor, the Leopard 2A6. Some of the notable upgrades include improved armor protection, a new turret design, enhanced situational awareness systems, and an upgraded power pack that provides better mobility and fuel efficiency.
The tank is equipped with a 120mm smoothbore gun that can fire a variety of ammunition types, including armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) rounds, high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds, and high-explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) rounds. It also has a coaxial machine gun and a remote-controlled weapon station on top of the turret that can be equipped with a machine gun or an automatic grenade launcher.
The Leopard 2A7 is currently in service with the German Army and has also been exported to other countries, including Qatar and Denmark. It is considered to be one of the most advanced and capable tanks in the world, and its design is expected to remain relevant for many years to come.
