Did Andreas Schwartz say out loud what Berlin thinks? In a message on X (Twitter), this parliamentarian (SPD), member of the federal budget, defense and financing committee, proposes to bury the future Franco-German MGCS (main ground combat system) program. He proposes, instead, devoting a budget to the modernization of the Leopard 2, the German tank sent in dozens of copies to Ukraine.
The MGCS project launched in 2017 aims to develop a ground system made up of armored vehicles and drones whose data would traverse a combat cloud. Au cœur de ce dispositif, a char doit être créé en commun pour succéder au Leopard 2 allemand et au Leclerc français au latest in 2040. En clair, le MGCS doit être à l’armée de terre ce que le Scaf sera à l’ Air Force.
The MGCS threatened with extinction
In order to develop this new tank and have a balanced division of tasks between France and Germany, French Nexter merged with Munich tank manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) to become KMW + Nexter Defense Systems (KNDS).
A deal was struck in November for a 50/50 split between KDNS and Rheinmetall, which seems to play by its own rules, at the risk of screwing everything up. The German industrialist even created with his own funds the KF-51 Panther Presented as the successor to the Leopard 2. Announced as an export weapon, the manufacturer ensures that the first copies will be available from 2025.
For the German business magazine handelsblattthe program to which the Bundeswerh must dedicate a special budget of 83 million euros this year would thus be in danger of extinction.
To save this program by rebalancing the balance of power with Germany, France would consider bringing in a new partner. It would be the Italian Leonardo, according to information from The galery which ensures that this option is “take it or leave it”. Is this a way of opening a way out by making Germany bear the responsibility for failure?
KDNS has planned a plan B with the EMBT (Euro Main Battle Tank) created from a Leopard 2A7 chassis and a Leclerc turret. This tank could succeed Leclerc, Nicolas Chamussy, CEO of Nexter, explained in May during a hearing in the National Assembly.
The truth is that the modernization of the Leclerc tank is not a long-term option, as recalled by the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, for whom the update of the French tank “cannot take us many decades”.
Source: BFM TV
