“We’re taking the lead”
Berlin and Paris agree on “Future of Tank Systems”
April 26, 2024, 7:17 p.m
Instead of further developing the Leopard II or Leclerc nationally, Germany and France are now focusing on the major project “Main Ground Combat System” – a major project worth billions that is intended to revolutionize the world of tanks. But not all components are already distributed.
By jointly developing a state-of-the-art land combat system, Germany and France want to prepare for military threats in the coming decades. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu signed an agreement in Paris (“Memorandum of Understanding”), which also set out the long-disputed distribution of tasks. The billion-dollar “Main Ground Combat System” (MGCS) project will therefore be structured along eight pillars. Germany and France are in the lead in two of them each. The other four pillars should be coordinated together.
“We want to build the land combat system of the future with MGCS,” Pistorius said at a press conference with Lecornu. It’s not about the further development of the Leopard and Leclerc main battle tanks, “but it’s about something completely new: networked combat vehicles, some of which can also operate unmanned.”
While France is at the helm of the joint air combat system FCAS, Germany is supposed to control the land combat system. “We’re taking the lead,” said Pistorius. At the same time, the industries of both countries should participate roughly equally. Pistorius said: “We agree that there should and must be a mutual value creation of 50 percent in the industry, so that this can also be a clearly parity model.”
Many technologies need to be developed
The land combat system is intended to connect a future battle tank in a data network with support weapons such as drones and other unmanned systems, thus enabling a leap in military technology. “It’s not about the tank of the future, but about the future of tank systems,” said Lecornu. He emphasized France’s friendship with Germany and that there had been open discussions.
Industrial distribution struggles had led to delays and tensions between Berlin and Paris. Behind the political scenes there had been a lot of trouble. The aim now is to complete negotiations on the industrial contract for the technology demonstration phase by the end of the year. Other European countries should also be won over to participate in the project. Pistorius named Italy and Poland.
Many technologies still need to be developed or further developed. Lessons from the course of the war in Ukraine and assumptions about the capabilities of possible opponents should be incorporated. The fact that weapon systems should also function unmanned could be part of an answer to the lack of soldiers in Western societies and demographic changes. Previous experience shows that delays and cost increases lurk as dangers.
Joint development of cannon
A project company is planned for the MGCS program, which will consist of the companies KNDS Deutschland (formerly KMW), KNDS France, Rheinmetall Landsysteme and Thales SIX. Under joint German-French leadership, it is intended to cover the four platform parts of the overall MGCS system – the cannon platform, the missile platform, the combat support platform and the operational system.
Below the project company there should be the eight pillars. Germany is leading the development of the platform with chassis and automated navigation (Pillar 1) as well as protection and armor systems and drone defense (Pillar 7). France has so-called secondary armament such as guided missiles (pillar 3) and the sensor technology area (pillar 6).
However, the communication, command and operations system is jointly controlled as a “digital nervous system” (Pillar 4) as well as a simulation environment (Pillar 5) and support, logistics and infrastructure (Pillar 8). In addition, the development of cannons, turrets and ammunition is ongoing under German-French leadership (pillar 2). In a first step, different cannon systems are to be developed nationally and, after comparative testing, a system is to be selected – this is a recognizable sign of existing disagreement.