IMBT

Two of Europe's largest defense companies are about to put their first jointly developed main battle tank on public display, revealing a new chapter in European armored warfare that has been building since the Italian Army decided its aging Ariete tank could no longer carry the weight of the country's ground combat ambitions. Leonardo Rheinmetall Military Vehicles, the joint venture created in equal partnership between Italy's Leonardo and Germany's Rheinmetall, confirmed that its new Italian main battle tank prototype, sometimes referred to in reporting as IMBT, will be showcased at Eurosatory 2026, the premier European land defense exhibition running June 15 to 19 in Paris. The new main battle tank program is designed to replace the Ariete, Italy's current primary main battle tank, which entered service in the 1990s and is based on technology that predates the lessons of Ukraine, the Middle East, and the transformation of anti-tank warfare driven by cheap guided missiles and first-person-view drones. Italy has been seeking a next-generation replacement for years, and the partnership between Leonardo and Rheinmetall, formalized through the establishment of LRMV in late 2024 with headquarters in Rome and operational facilities in La Spezia, created the industrial vehicle to make it happen. The A2CS programme covers the Lynx-based armoured combat vehicle family, while the new main battle tank programme will replace the Ariete, together forming the full renewal of Italy's heavy armored vehicle fleet with what the partners describe as cutting-edge digitalization and connectivity for complex multidomain operations. The prototype being shown at Eurosatory carries a layered protection package that reflects exactly the threat environment modern tank designers are working to address. The most significant element is the StrikeShield Active Protection System, Rheinmetall's hard-kill active protection system designed to detect and defeat incoming threats close to the vehicle, including anti-tank rockets, guided missiles, and certain types of armor-piercing rounds, before they reach the hull. StrikeShield is described by Rheinmetall as the only high-performance close-in defense system that minimizes collateral damage to infantry operating near the protected vehicle, a design priority that reflects hard lessons from urban combat environments where protecting dismounted troops alongside a tank is as tactically important as protecting the tank itself. Hard-kill protection matters because Ukraine's war has demonstrated repeatedly that even the most heavily armored tanks become casualties when anti-tank guided missiles and top-attack munitions reach their target, and that passive armor alone cannot address the full threat spectrum modern crews face. Alongside StrikeShield, the prototype carries Rheinmetall's ROSY rapid obscuring system, a smoke-screen launcher designed to quickly generate a visual and infrared obscuring cloud around the vehicle when sensors detect an incoming threat, buying time for the crew to maneuver and complicating targeting by guided weapons that rely on optical or infrared lock. The third element of the protection package is Leonardo's Blaze 30 remote weapon station, a remotely controlled turret armed with a 30 mm cannon that allows the crew to engage aerial threats, light vehicles, and dismounted infantry without exposing themselves above the hull. Remote weapon stations have become a standard feature of modern armored vehicles precisely because the threat from drone operators, snipers, and direct-fire weapons makes opening a hatch to operate a conventional gun mount an increasingly dangerous proposition. LRMV delivered the first four Lynx KF-41 vehicles to the Italian Armed Forces for the A2CS programme at Montelibretti on January 27, 2026, marking the official launch of the A2CS programme under an initial contract for 21 armored combat vehicles. That delivery gave LRMV its first concrete operational milestone and demonstrated the joint venture's ability to move from establishment to hardware delivery in under a year and a half of formal existence. The Lynx is a German-designed tracked infantry fighting vehicle that Rheinmetall has sold to Hungary and Australia among other customers, giving LRMV a production-proven platform on the lighter armored vehicle side of its portfolio while the heavier main battle tank program continues its development trajectory. The Eurosatory exhibition in Paris is the event where European land forces programs typically make their largest public statements, and LRMV's decision to debut the tank prototype there rather than at a domestic Italian show or a bilateral German-Italian ceremony reflects the joint venture's explicitly European commercial ambitions. The LRMV partnership was created not simply to serve Italy's domestic requirements but to establish a reference hub for European land combat vehicle development, with both partners bringing complementary industrial strengths and export networks to a market that is spending at levels not seen since the Cold War. Europe's governments have committed to sustained defense spending increases following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the tank replacement programs that multiple nations have been deferring for decades are now active procurement competitions with real timelines attached.

IMBT

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IMBT

Italy and Germany set to showcase their new tank at Eurosatory

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About The Defence Blog