At Eurosatory, running this week at Villepinte (Paris), IDV - making its first appearance at a show as a Leonardo company - presented, together with Leonardo's Defense Systems Business Unit, the new CL2X UGV fitted with the HITFIST 30 UL turret (Leonardo), along with its broader portfolio of unmanned (or uncrewed) developments.

The novelties, however, extend beyond vehicles and armament - important as these remain - to the technologies that make unmanned ground operations possible in the first place.

Back to the CL2X: it is a tracked UGV with a combat weight of 16,000 kg (6 m long, 2.5 m wide, 2.5 m high), fitted with the HITFIST 30 UL (Ultra Light) turret, armed with the new X-GUN 30 30 mm cannon (30x173). The vehicle adopts a conventional layout, comparable to that of a manned tracked vehicle: turret amidships, powerpack at the rear.

Autonomous mobility relies on MACE (Modular Autonomy Controlled Equipment) technology, which uses artificial intelligence algorithms and sensor fusion to navigate and move across the terrain even in GNSS-denied conditions. The platform is designed to develop the concepts of cooperative combat and Manned-Unmanned Teaming, effectively acting as a "ground loyal wingman": the CL2X can follow an MBT anywhere, with equivalent mobility.

Alongside the CL2X, IDV also presented 2 armed versions of the VIKING — 8 of which have been acquired by the Italian Army in the base, unarmed configuration. The first is fitted with a HITROLE Light turret armed with a 30 mm "short" cannon (30x113) of the BLAZE type; the second carries launchers (3 to 6) for MBDA light surface-to-surface missiles (such as SPEAR, AKERON or BRIMSTONE).