Elbit Systems will supply BAE Systems Hägglunds a new batch of the Iron Fist system (approximately 150 million dollars) intended for CV90 in service with European NATO countries. The announcement comes after a “live-fire” demonstration in Europe (September 2025) where the system showed capabilities even against kinetic energy (KE) threats.
The Iron Fist is an advanced APS (Active Protection System), which is a set of sensors and countermeasures that detects an anti-tank threat in real-time and neutralizes it before impact, creating a protective “bubble” around the vehicle. It can be soft-kill (deception/disruption) or hard-kill (physical interception), and is designed to increase survivability against missiles, rockets, drones, and loitering munitions.
Why Iron Fist on CV90 is a strategic signal (not just commercial)
The news confirms that, in Europe, APS is increasingly becoming a “basic” requirement for high-intensity deployment. Specifically, Iron Fist is described as a system capable of 360° protection against a range of anti-tank threats: rockets, guided missiles, drones, loitering munitions, and even KE rounds.
The key point for European armies is that today threats do not only come “frontally”: they come from above, in swarms, with complex profiles and reduced engagement times. APS thus becomes the difference between suffering the opponent's initiative and maintaining freedom of maneuver.
Impact “today” on Italy: Ariete and Dardo
For Italy, the message is direct: if Europe integrates APS on modern IFVs, older vehicles risk suffering an increasing gap precisely on the most important front, which is survivability.
Ariete C2 (operational bridge, but with a known limit)
In the modernization path, the Ariete C2 significantly improves engine and onboard components, reaching (according to industry analysis) 1,500 hp. However, it is also highlighted that neither the AMV configuration nor the C2 have planned an increase in protection level: the mass varies little and the increase in protection remains entrusted to kits/add-ons. In this context, an APS is one of the few levers capable of rapidly increasing survivability without redesigning the entire vehicle; moreover, the same source emphasizes that the new “open” vetronic architecture would facilitate the integration of additional protection solutions.
Dardo (risk reduction while awaiting replacement)
For a previous generation IFV, the APS can function as an “operational insurance”: it does not make the vehicle new, but it can drastically reduce vulnerability against ATGMs and threats from above, protecting crews and infantry while transitioning to the new family of vehicles.
Impact “tomorrow”: A2CS and new MBT with Rheinmetall (and Leonardo)
The most important dimension, however, is prospective: Italy is building its next generation of heavy vehicles with the Leonardo-Rheinmetall joint venture.
A first contract for 21 vehicles of the A2CS program (5 Lynx KF-41 with Lance turret followed by 16 vehicles in configuration with Hitfist 30 mm turret) has already been announced, within an overall program aiming for 1,050 vehicles. Simultaneously, the joint venture is indicated as the industrial entity for the development and subsequent commercialization of the new MBT and the entire A2CS family.
Here, the APS should not be an “optional” considered later, but a requirement to be designed in baseline: electrical and cooling arrangements, wiring, sensor/effector positioning, integration with vehicle self-protection and sensor suites. Doing it ex-post costs more and forces compromises.
Conclusion
The Iron Fist contract on CV90 is a very concrete reminder: active protection is becoming an integral part of the modern armored concept. For Italy, it means thinking in two phases: immediately (mitigating risk on Ariete and Dardo, if they are to remain operational for a long time) and structurally (making APS “native” on A2CS and on the future MBT italo-Rheinmetall-Leonardo).
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