Weapons, agreement between France and Germany on the new European joint tank

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The governments of France and Germany have reached an agreement on the joint project to create the new European heavy tank, called the “Main Ground Combat System” (MGCS). A project that has been under discussion for some time, but has been postponed several times due to differences between the two countries and their industries on who should take the lead and on the division of labor between the two states.

Pistorius and Lecornu’s announcement

The announcement was made at a press conference in Berlin by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his French counterpart, Sébastien Lecornu. They spoke of a “decisive turning point”. “This is more than a milestone, it is a historic moment,” the German defense minister said. “Today we have reached the turning point,” Pistorius said, “an expression of the meaning, strength and opportunities of Franco-German cooperation and friendship.”

He will replace the German Leopard and the French Leclerc

The breakthrough in the talks refers to a joint tank project called the “Main Ground Combat System” that will succeed the two countries’ separate weapons systems: the German Leopard and the French Leclerc. The construction of just one tank model should allow savings in development and design costs, the so-called “non-recurring costs”. Land armaments are the sector in which there is the greatest industrial fragmentation in Europe, with an increase in costs that are borne by taxpayers. The MGCS joins another Franco-German armaments project that has been discussed since 2017, the fighter jet called Future Combat Air System (FCAS).

Divergences

The agreement marks a rapprochement between the two countries whose political relations have been put to the test by differences over European defense policy and armaments for Ukraine. Pistorius said the talks were “complicated, far-reaching and difficult, because we are literally entering uncharted territory.” “Two countries that have significant, competent and competitive weapons industries have never before attempted to jointly produce a complex weapons system in this way, and this is by definition a difficult thing to do,” Lecornu noted.

Memorandum of understanding on April 26

Lecornu said the MGCS will not only be a successor to the German Leopard and the French Leclerc, but a “generational leap in technological terms” as it will include a main battle tank accompanied by robots, drones and artificial intelligence. Production of the next-generation tank will be split equally between the military industries of the two participating nations, 50/50 for each, Pistorius said. The German minister added that he will go to Paris on April 26 to sign a memorandum of understanding on the first phase of the project. “We have agreed on the distribution of all tasks for this major project,” Pistorius said. “Together we have established clear boundaries on the tasks of Germany and France and there will be no room for interpretation or misunderstanding.”