Rheinmetall-Leonardo JV receives first contract from Italian army

BERLIN (Reuters) -The joint venture between European defence giants Rheinmetall and Leonardo received its first order from the Italian army to build combat vehicles, the companies said on Wednesday.

The 50:50 joint venture between the German and Italian companies that was launched last year will produce 21 A2CS combat armoured vehicles, with delivery of the first one expected by the end of 2025.

The companies did not say how much the order was valued at.

Italy is expected to order a total of 1,050 armoured combat vehicles, part of a programme to renew the country's heavy vehicles fleet, the companies said in their statement.

"Cooperation is not optional anymore - it is the very essence of our European strategic sovereignty," said David Hoeder, executive chairman of the joint venture.

Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger had told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that the joint venture is expected to receive orders worth around 5 billion euros ($5.83 billion) from Italy in the next 12 months.

($1 = 0.8575 euros)

(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi, Writing by Miranda Murray)