Defense

MONTELIBRETTI, Italy — The Italian army has taken delivery of four Lynx fighting vehicles from Rheinmetall, the first batch in a massive, planned order of 1,050 vehicles. The four tracked vehicles were unveiled at the army’s Montelibretti test range outside Rome in front of an audience including Italy’s defense chief and defense minister as well as managers from Rheinmetall and Italy’s…

PARIS — Europeans are “dreaming” if they think the continent can defend itself without the United States, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in a meeting with members of the European Parliament on Monday, citing the costs of going it alone and the need to build up a nuclear capability. “If anyone thinks here that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the…

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — The Indian Air Force is currently on its fifth attempt to obtain air-to-air refueling aircraft, but it is now closer than ever to procuring these desperately needed force-multiplying assets. The Defence Acquisition Council cleared a potential acquisition of six second-hand Boeing 767 commercial aircraft that will be converted into tankers by Israel Aerospace…

PARIS — NATO is ready to engage in a potential Arctic mission, but hasn’t started planning one as there has been no political guidance to do so, said Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, after a meeting of the organization’s top military leaders on Thursday. “We’re aware of discussions about this, of course, and therefore we’re doing some thinking about how we…