Four European countries unite to develop new tank

The German government, together with its partners from Spain, Italy, and Sweden, is going to start developing a next generation tank.

According to German journalists from Handelsblatt, the German defense companies Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall will participate in the development.

The countries participating in the project expect to receive part of the funding from the European Defense Fund.

The article does not mention any technical specifications or terms.

To date, Germany states it continues to develop a new tank together with France.

However, as Handelsblatt wrote, this project is on the verge of failure. Berlin and Paris launched this project six years ago.

The Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) was supposed to replace and significantly surpass current German Leopard 2 and French Leclerc main battle tanks.

As the newspaper noted, the success of the plans “is increasingly in doubt” in light of serious disagreements between the two governments.

Back in 2017, Berlin and Paris agreed to work on a Franco-German tank to replace the German and French tanks.

It is planned to be adopted by 2035 at the earliest.

It should be noted that Rheinmetall has been developing the KF51 tank on its own for several years.

According to the German media, the new tank is actually a Leopard 2 Revolution with a new gun, MTU890 engine, and electro-mechanical transmission.