MGCS: Timetable for future main battle tank system significantly extended

The schedule for the German-French battle tank system of the future (Main Ground Combat System, MGCS) to be ready for series production has been pushed back by up to ten years.

As can be seen from a joint press conference between German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu, the new plans stipulate that MGCS should be ready for series production in the first half of the 1940s. The press conference took place on September 21st at the French air base in Évreux. Defense Minister Pistorius said that MGCS would roll out in about 20 years. Lecornu named the period 2040 to 2045.

The planning for the major project originally communicated by the Ministry of Defense stipulated that the first series vehicle should be delivered in 2035 (ES&T reported). This means that there is already a deviation of up to a decade at the beginning of the project.

Technical development has not yet begun

Since MGCS is supposed to be a completely new main battle tank system and not simply an improved Leopard 2 or Leclerc, i.e. the current main battle tanks of the German and French armed forces, a delay in the schedule is not all that surprising.

Such projects, in which technologies are to be used that are either not yet ready for series production or that do not yet exist, rarely manage to adhere to the set schedules due to their complexity.

However, the actual technical development of MGCS has not yet begun, although it was already decided in principle at a German-French ministerial meeting in June 2018. Since then, the project has not been able to gain momentum, which Pistorius and Lecornu now want to change.

Establishing common capability requirements

Against this background, last Thursday the inspectors of the German and French armies signed a High Level Common Operational Requirements Document (HLCORD) by recording the jointly defined requirements of the two armed forces for the future ground combat system.

Pistorius said: “This is a very important step that we are taking today. This may not seem so important to one or two observers outside, but it is for the project because we were at a standstill for a long time, I don't want to say, but at a slower pace for a long time." The minister also explained: "These capability requirements are now as concrete as they have never been and as concrete as they can be, for a future project that will only be rolled out in almost 20 years. And that’s why this is a milestone, an important one that basically makes the work to come possible.”

Definition of individual development pillars

The individual technical development pillars for MGCS are to be defined by December in order to then assign them to either Germany or France. The aim is to distribute the development projects evenly. However, Germany holds the basic management, while France was given responsibility for the joint project to develop a future air combat system (Future Combat Air System, FCAS).

Negotiations with the industry and the signing of the contract will take place next year, Pistorius explained. Afterwards, we will also open up to other partners who want to participate in MGCS. According to Pistorius, Italy, the Netherlands and other countries have already expressed interest.

No competition for MGCS

With a view to the media coverage of a possible competing project to MGCS (ES&T reported), which was tendered as part of the European Defense Fund (EDF) and for which a German-led consortium is currently preparing without the participation of French companies, both ministers rejected rumors about a possible end to MGCS. Lecornu emphasized that it was just a research project with only 30 million euros, while the new French defense budget alone earmarks 500 million for MGCS. The German shares would then be added to this money, said the French minister.

Pistorius added: “I honestly don’t see what the problem is now. Because it's not competition. We are further, we are more concrete and I believe that this question of this other project will be resolved very quickly, precisely because it is a study, for initial considerations.”

Symbolic unity

At the press conference in Évreux, both ministers, who are on friendly terms with one another, tried to convey the impression of lively and intact Franco-German cooperation. Now we should finally get going with this prestigious project, which has so far been dominated by disagreement, similar to FCAS. The main focus was on the competition between companies. On the one hand, the German company Kraus-Maffei Wegmann and the French company Nexter, which have joined forces in a joint holding company under the name KNDS. On the other hand, Rheinmetall. One point of contention here, for example, is the choice of cannon. While Rheinmetall offers its 130mm cannon, Nexter would like to see its 140mm cannon installed in MGCS (ES&T reported).

Against this background, both defense ministers emphasized that it is the states that advance the MGCS project and are also the customers. Therefore, the industry must subordinate itself to the political will, according to the message. Apparently, an open dispute, as was the case with FCAS between the French company Dassault and the German-French-Spanish company Airbus, should be prevented by making clear political announcements from the start. To what extent this will work remains to be seen. The next meeting between Lecornu and Pistorius is already planned for October in Berlin.

Editorial staff / oh