Tank project MGCS: Pistorius rejects Paris claim – 'It is not dead'
After reports of a German exit, Berlin and Paris say they will keep the future tank project – though possibly only as a link-up of two national models.
Archive image · Photo: Olaf Kosinsky / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de (cropped and resized)
Germany and France will continue their joint tank project MGCS (Main Ground Combat System), Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) and his French counterpart Catherine Vautrin said on Friday during a company visit in Bordeaux. "The MGCS project is not over, it is not dead," Pistorius said, adding that it was "completely secure" and an important future project for both nations. Vautrin also said the project remained on the agenda.
The debate was triggered by French Chief of the General Staff Fabien Mandon, who told a parliamentary hearing on Thursday that the Germans had decided to withdraw from the project. The French General Staff later said the programme had been postponed but would continue. Both countries are first to design interim successors to the Leopard 2 and the Leclerc.
The ministers left open whether there will ultimately be one joint tank or merely a networking of a German and a French model – a significantly scaled-down variant. According to the General Staff, the focus will be on networking, cooperative combat, automation and robotics. MGCS is estimated to be worth about 100 billion euros. The FCAS fighter jet project was already cut back in the summer to networking separate weapon systems.