Italian MoD is looking for foreign partners to develop and build a modern main battle tank, and has made a formal offer to Poland to join this project.
The Italian initiative, which has reportedly also been offered to Spain, stems from its failure to win a role in the French-German Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), as after two years of discussions those two countries want to get the project up and running before opening it to additional members.
Italian Army Arieta MBT
“We are looking for potential partners to whom we will propose a coherent project aimed at the cooperative development of a common European vehicle,” Italian Deputy Defense Minister Angelo Tofalo told Italian parliamentarians on October 1.
He added that the possibility of an alternative initiative with Poland and Spain, which have also been excluded from the Franco-German MGCS program, is on the table, while a pan-European program, as well as the alternative idea of proceeding with a bilateral program with Israel, are more remote.