Russia and Italy have agreed on the acquisition by the Russian side of ten multi-functional armored vehicles "Lynx" from the Italian company Iveco, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Friday at a meeting in Sochi with Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa, which is taking place within the framework of the seventh round of Russian-Italian interstate consultations on the highest level.
"At present, an agreement has already been reached on the acquisition by Russia of ten multi-functional armored vehicles" Lynx "from the Italian company Iveco," his press secretary, Irina Kovalchuk, quoted RIA Novosti as saying.
She said that Serdyukov confirmed Russia's interest in setting up a joint venture (JV) for the production of this equipment on the territory of the Russian Federation.
In August, a source in the Russian defense industry told RIA Novosti that Rostekhnologii was negotiating the creation of a joint venture in Russia for the production of armored vehicles with Iveco. At the same time, according to his data, KAMAZ is considered as a production site. The head of Rostekhnologii, Sergei Chemezov, later told reporters that the assembly of Italian armored vehicles would be carried out at one of the enterprises of the Rosavto holding.
"Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa confirmed the readiness to transfer technologies for the production of armored vehicles with the possibility of their (armored vehicles) subsequent sale to the CIS states," said the press secretary of Serdyukova.
Serdyukov also stressed that "the activation of military-technical cooperation not only at the level of industry, but also at the level of the military departments of Russia and Italy will open new mutually beneficial prospects for the two countries." According to him, Russia is interested in the Italian side providing several armored vehicles of various classes "to assess their capabilities and test them in the Russian ground forces."
Kovalchuk said that the defense ministers of the two countries agreed to expand cooperation in the military-technical sphere.
"This cooperation will develop under the leadership of the First Deputy Defense Minister of Russia Vladimir Popovkin and Mr. Guido Croseto from Italy," said the spokeswoman for the Defense Minister.
As Vladimir Popovkin himself said at the end of October, the production of armored vehicles under the Iveco license in Russia will presumably begin in 2011. The first car, he said, should leave the assembly line at the end of next year.
At the same time, he noted that it will be a "screwdriver assembly" - "the plans are such that the use of Russian components should eventually exceed 50 percent."
At the end of June, he also announced that it was planned to organize the production of light armor for this armored vehicle in Russia using German technology. According to him, Iveco uses such armor on its vehicles.
