Germany and France May Abandon Joint Development of MGCS Tank

Germany and France are likely abandoning the original concept of jointly developing the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), a next-generation combat system.

This is indicated by a statement from the German Federal Ministry of Defence, released following a meeting of the German-French Intergovernmental Council.

Instead of creating a single family of armored vehicles based on a common chassis, the two countries may focus solely on developing joint digital technologies for the interoperability of future combat platforms.

The ministry’s statement no longer mentions the joint development of a single platform or family of armored vehicles.

Instead, it states that, as part of the MGCS program, Germany and France will develop ‘platform-independent technology’ for future manned and unmanned armored vehicles and their interoperability with main battle tanks.

This wording differs significantly from the program’s previous concept, which called for the creation of a family of combat vehicles based on a single chassis to meet the needs of both countries.

According to the original plan, the family was to include a tank, a missile platform, and a combat support vehicle.

Hartpunkt believes that the project could suffer the same fate as the Franco-German Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program. The program, which began as an ambitious project between two major European aircraft manufacturers, ultimately ran into resistance from both sides to make concessions, attempts by Dassault and Airbus to secure a larger share for themselves, and uncertainty regarding the technical specifications.

In that program, the countries also gradually moved away from the idea of creating a fully joint combat system and focused their cooperation primarily on digital architecture and networked interoperability.

The first signs of disagreements between Berlin and Paris emerged as early as 2024 during the signing of a memorandum on the division of industrial responsibilities within the MGCS program. At that time, the parties were unable to agree on a single design for the turret and the main armament of the future tank. As a compromise, they decided to develop their own gun systems in parallel, with subsequent testing and the selection of a single option.

At the same time, the MGCS program was structured around eight development areas. These include the creation of the platform, turret and armament, sensors, protection systems, a simulation environment, logistics, and a digital command-and-control system.

It is precisely this last area, referred to as the ‘digital nervous system,’ that will likely now become the main focus of the two countries’ joint efforts.