Main Battle Tanks, Europe and the Implications for Italy

Executive summary

1. Western threat assessment and army’s heavy component, by Ester Sabatino and Eugenio Po
1.1 US and NATO response to Russian threat: new capability goals and readiness levels
1.2 The new operational requirements and technological trends
1.2.1 General characteristics
1.2.2 Mobility
1.2.3 Survivability
1.2.4 Lethality
1.2.5 Vetronics and new technologies
1.3 Implication for European armies

2. The state of the art in relevant non-EU countries, by Eugenio Po
2.1 US
2.1.1 The future of US combat vehicles
2.1.2 A light tank for the US Army
2.2 Russia
2.3 Others
2.3.1 China
2.3.2 Israel
2.3.3 Japan
2.3.4 South Korea
2.3.5 Turkey
2.3.6 Ukraine

3. The industrial land sector and European defence cooperation, by Ester Sabatino
3.1 Landscaping of MBT fleets in Europe
3.2 The land sector within the European Defence Technological Industrial Base
3.3 The EU context, PESCO and EDA initiatives

4. France, by Jean-Pierre Maulny
4.1 The military rationale
4.2 The industrial rationale
4.3 The political rationale

5. Germany, by Ezio Bonsignore
5.1 The political rationale
5.2 The military rationale
5.3 The industrial rationale

6. Italy, by Alessandro Marrone
6.1 The military rationale
6.2 The industrial rationale
6.3 The political rationale

7. Poland, by Marcin Terlikowski
7.1 The military rationale
7.2 The industrial rationale
7.3 The political rationale

8. United Kingdom, by Ben W. Barry
8.1 The military rationale
8.2 The political rationale
8.3 The industrial rationale

9. The MBT landscape in Europe and the options for Italy, by Alessandro Marrone and Michele Nones
9.1 The MBT landscape in Europe
9.2 Option one: a truly EuroMBT with France, Germany and Poland
9.3 Option two: an Italo-Polish MBT
9.4 Option three: a European MBT with Spain, Poland and other European countries
9.5 Back-up option: a cooperation with Israel
9.6 Conclusions

List of acronyms