Germany and France agree on a joint advanced weapons project

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency quoting Germany and France have reached a major agreement on the joint development of an advanced ground combat system, according to the Wirtschaftswokhe newspaper. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and French Defense Minister Sébastien LeCorneau signed a memorandum of understanding in Paris to build the next super-modern main battle tank. These two ministers informed about this after concluding this agreement.

According to the reports, it was also agreed on the distribution of the duties of this big project worth billions in eight pillars. It is that Germany and France each lead in two pillars. Arrangements should be made regarding the division of tasks in the other four pillars. The future (FCAS) is led by France. In the future, this system will connect battle tanks in a data network with supporting weapons such as drones and other unmanned systems, thus enabling a leap in military technology. This system follows from the Leopard and Leclerc main battle tanks.

In this way, Germany and France instead of further developing the Leopard II or Leclerc tanks in At the national level, they are now focused on the “Main Ground Combat System” project – a large project worth billions of dollars that intends to revolutionize the world of tanks.

In this way, Germany and France want to prepare for military threats in the coming decades by jointly developing an advanced ground combat system. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his French counterpart Sebastien LeCorneau signed an agreement (“memorandum of understanding”) in Paris that also determined the long-disputed distribution of duties.

Pistorius said at a press conference with his French counterpart: “We want to build the ground combat system of the future with MGCS. He added: “Here, the issue is not the further development of the Leopard and Leclerc main battle tanks, but a completely new issue.” Yes, Germany is supposed to control the ground combat system. “We are making progress,” Pistorius said. At the same time, the industries of both countries should participate in this project almost equally. Pistorius said: “We agree that there should and should be a 50% mutual value creation in the industry so that this can also clearly be an equality model.” : This is not the issue of the future tank, but the issue of the future of tank systems. He emphasized France’s friendship with Germany and stated that open discussions have taken place in this field.

Other European countries should also be attracted to participate in this project. Pistorius mentioned Italy and Poland, among others.

Of course, many technologies still need further development to advance this project. Lessons from the course of the war in Ukraine and assumptions about the capabilities of potential adversaries should be included. The fact that weapons systems must also operate unmanned could be part of the answer to troop shortages in Western societies and demographic changes. Previous experience shows that delay and cost increase are the risks lurking in this project. The companies are KNDS Deutschland (formerly KMW), KNDS France, Rheinmetall Landsysteme and Thales SIX. Under the joint leadership of Germany and France, it is supposed to cover four parts, the overall MGCS system platform – the gun platform, the missile platform, the combat support platform and the operational system.

NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg praised the agreement in principle between France and Germany to jointly build an advanced ground combat system. Stoltenberg said: This is good news.

Stoltenberg said: We welcome the cooperation of NATO allies to build military capacity because it makes us stronger. We are generally in favor of the cooperation of allies. This will help us overcome the fragmentation of our defense industry.”

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