Defense. A unclear future for the Franco-German MGCS war tank project

Paris and Berlin will review their Franco-German tank project, the German government said on Monday. The announcement comes after the failure, at the beginning of June, of the future SCAF (Future Combat Air System) combat aircraft project, against a backdrop of tensions between capitals and industrialists.

Asked about the future of the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), a project launched in 2017 by Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, a spokesperson for the German Ministry of Defense declared that “some adjustments had been made in recent weeks “. “Germany and France have jointly decided to focus on the core of the MGCS program, namely the research, development and demonstration of cutting-edge technologies called ‘future-oriented’ for the use and command of combat tanks,” added the spokesperson in Berlin. Asked about the possibility of having, in the end, different armored vehicles in France and Germany, instead of just one, the latter replied that “the question remains unanswered”. “The project allows us to consider different platforms”, he added.

After the failure of the SCAF, the combat aircraft initiated by Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel in 2017 and buried a week ago by Paris and Berlin, the MGCS could therefore also have lead in its wings. In an interview published on Saturday, the boss of the German arms giant Rheinmetall, one of the companies involved in the project, spoke of a possible withdrawal by France. In addition to Rheinmetall, KNDS France, KNDS Germany and the French group Thales are participating in the MGCS project, supposed to succeed the German Leopard 2 and the Leclerc by 2040.