Italy to place historic 21 billion CAD order with Rheinmetall

This might be the largest order in the defense company Rheinmetall's history. The Italians want to order over 500 tanks from the German manufacturer. According to n-tv.de, the contract could be worth 21 billion CAD.

Italy plans to purchase military equipment in Germany, including Panther battle tanks and Lynx infantry fighting vehicles, according to the newspaper Handelsblatt. The order will be fulfilled over 15 years and will consist of maintaining the combat vehicles. The estimated cost of the transaction is 21 billion CAD.

German media pointed out that the company neither confirmed nor denied this information. As a result, Rheinmetall's shares increased by 3.4 percent.

The German company will cooperate with the Italian defense company Leonardo to fulfill the order. "In the case of large orders in the defense industry, an attempt is usually made to fulfill part of the volume in the client's country," notes Handelsblatt. In this case, it is about tanks.

This is another large order for Rheinmetall in recent times. The company recently announced that a framework agreement was signed with the Bundeswehr, which provides for the delivery of up to 7,165 vehicles worth nearly 3.7 billion CAD. Meanwhile, in June, the Bundeswehr ordered ammunition worth 9.3 billion CAD.