The last day of 2024 saw delivery at the Army multipurpose testing center of Montelibretti (Rome) of an example of the standard infantry fighting vehicle Lynx Kf-41 intended for testing, verification and preliminary technical evaluation activities in order to decide on the defined acquisition program A2cs/Aics.
The manufacturer is Germany’s Rheinmetall, which lent the vehicle as Italy prepares to sign a half-billion-euro contract for a first batch of units by mid-2025. For this reason, our military technicians, engineers and specialists will have to evaluate the performance of mobility, protection, firepower and interoperability with the systems used by Italian soldiers in the scenarios and conditions of possible use. Designed in 2015, this is a latest generation tank characterized by a modular design that gives the vehicle a lot of versatility, i.e. capable of performing different functions as a combat vehicle for infantry but also as a troop transport unit, to function from a command post or as an ambulance.
The delivery of the specimen to be evaluated is part of the activities envisaged by the agreement signed last October between Rheinmetall and Leonardo for the creation of a new joint venture which will deal with the construction and development of new vehicles for the Army, with the Italian company which will supply armaments and electronic systems for the Italian models and, in the future, for possible variants for export. Once the field evaluation has been completed and the specifications have been defined, we will be able to proceed with the signing of the first supply contract for our Army. According to Defense forecasts, Italy needs 1,050 new combat vehicles based on this project for a program worth 15 billion euros, with the first example to be delivered by 2027. In addition to these, the Army will also acquire 280 tanks based on the Panther Kf-51 model currently under development which will constitute a program worth another eight billion euros, with the first tank scheduled for delivery in 2028.
Operational with the Armed Forces of Hungary and Ukraine, technically the Kf-41 it has a mass that varies between 30 and 45 tons depending on the version and equipment, it has a length of less than eight meters (from 7.35 to 7.75 depending on the equipment), a width of 3.6 and a Height of 3.3 meters. The flight crew is three people, while the transport capacity is 6-8 fully equipped units. Regarding the armament, it consists of the cannon Rheinmetall 35 mm Wotan and a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun with the possibility of also installing grenade launchers and take-off ramps for drones. The engine is a diesel Liebherr D976 18,000 cc six-cylinder in-line engine with a configurable maximum power of 1,140 hp (typically around 750 hp at 1,350 rpm), to which an automatic transmission is combined. The tank has a capacity of 700 litres, sufficient for a maximum range of 500 km if traveled at low speed (45 km/h); the maximum is 70 km/h.
The development of the new tank will obviously take into account what emerged during the Russian-Ukrainian war, which saw the baptism of fire of the Kf-41 and the comparison with the Russian tanks. At the moment, it is clear that modern armies still need tracked tanks, especially with excellent mobility performance in difficult terrain, but with greater protections for soldiers, especially from damage caused by mines. But precisely because of how the new personal equipment of the military is conceived, the need is also emerging for greater space inside the tank, for safe connectivity with aerial vehicles and also for protection from small aerial threats such as drones. There war in Ukraine demonstrated that the useful use is no longer that of large formations of tanks advancing together, but of groups made up of a few units that accompany the advance by breaking through the enemy lines and clearing the terrain. Precisely for these reasons the wrecks of the destroyed tanks are carefully analyzed to understand where and how modifications and improvements are possible. On the opposite front, the conquest of a tank allows you to study its weak points to make attacks more effective.
