Thursday, January 5, 2012, 12:11 AM

Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced in December 2011 that the production of armored vehicles Iveco LMV M65 Lynx for the needs of the Russian Ministry of defense will be located in Voronezh, Russia.

The Italian LMV vehicle has passed driving performance tests and resistance to landmines explosion by the Russian military. Italy has proposed now a joint venture to produce the vehicle in Russia.

According to information from the Russian newspaper "Rossiyskaya Gazeta", the vehicle LMV could be manufactured locally by the company KamAZ with technical assistance of the Italian Company Iveco Defence Vehicles. First, the main candidate for partnership with the Italians could be the Russian Defence Compnay "KamAZ", but the relevant agreement has not been achieved.

The Russian Ministry of Defence has decided in 2010 to supply its armed forces with the wheeled armored vehicle LMV, with production in Russia.

The main competitor of LMV called "Tiger" (GAZ-2330), produced by BMK Arzamas Machinery Plant which is supplied to the Russian army since 2007. At the end of 2010 the Russian Ministry of Defense acquired in Italy, ten armored vehicles LMV M65 for testing in the Army in Russia. In the future, during the next 5 years between 1,500 and 1,700 LMV vehicles with a unit value of 300-500 thousands Euro should be assembled in Russia.