After years of negotiations, Germany and France have agreed to build a common battle tank system. An important step for both countries and this time things will be different.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his French colleague Sébastien Lecornu appeared in front of the press almost relaxed. In fluent French, Pistorius thanked “dear” Sébastien for always seeking a direct line to him on this difficult tank project and thus finding solutions. France and Germany have great ambitions, said Pistorius, and the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) stands for exactly that.
“It’s about something completely new,” explained the minister. The MGCS enables networked combat vehicles, some of which can also cooperate with each other unmanned. Plus autonomous tactical navigation, a robust cloud environment and resilient digital automation. Artificial intelligence will also help “to ensure that with MGCS we achieve a significant qualitative advantage in capabilities for national and alliance defense.”
State as client
His partner, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu, put it this way: “It’s not so much about the tank of the future, but about the future of the tank.” The core of this declaration of intent is “that we will have a common tank in 2040. Because we have broadly the same opponents and have to train together.”
Pistorius and Lecornu emphasized that – unlike other projects – the state was clearly acting as the client for the MGCS and that the industry had to adapt accordingly. This is a lesson learned from the difficult negotiations surrounding the FCAS air combat system.
The momentum shown by both ministers today perhaps also stemmed from the relief of finally getting this difficult project off the ground. For years we couldn’t come to an agreement.
Julia Borutta, tagesschau, April 26, 2024 5:24 p.m
Some of the companies involved are competitors
There are two reasons for this, explains Gaspard Schnitzler from the think tank IRIS (institut de relations Auslands et stratégiques), which works on geopolitical and strategic issues. On the one hand, the German and French companies involved – Rheinmetall and KNDS – are not only partners but also competitors in some fields.
On the other hand, the armies and therefore the governments have different operational needs and the schedule is also different. “France needs the tank quite early. The Leclerc will go out of service in 2030/35. Germany, on the other hand, with its modernized Leopard can wait until 2040/45.”
Pistorius emphasizes vision of a strong EU
So now we want to pull together. Pistorius twice referred to Emmanuel Macron’s Europe speech at the Sorbonne University yesterday and supported his vision of a strong, defensive EU: “We need a European understanding of the defense industry.” Given the developments in the world, we have to develop the best solutions in Europe in the long term. “So the best solutions come from Europe.”
Pistorius explained that other partners would be brought on board, such as Poland. The MGCS project not only reflects the ambitions that are being demonstrated, but is also an expression of one “strong mutual trust, which is even more important these days than ever before.”
The final contract should be ready at the end of the year. Parliaments will vote on the project in 2025 so that the target is for the tank to be ready for use in 2040.