ROME — The team-up between Leonardo and Rheinmetall to fulfill a huge vehicle order for the Italian army has received its first contract, the manufacturers said on Wednesday.

The 50-50 joint venture between the Italian and German firms has signed to supply 21 Rheinmetall Lynx tracked fighting vehicles, part of an eventual planned order of 1,050 vehicles by the Italian army.

David Hoeder, the executive chairman of Leonardo Rheinmetall Military Vehicles, said the deal “brings the two companies, as well as two of Europe’s largest countries, closer together. Cooperation is not optional anymore – it is the very essence of our European strategic sovereignty.”

Last year the companies agreed to team up to build the Lynxs and 272 copies of Rheinmetall’s Panther tanks – a €23 billion deal to re

See Full Page