After the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on April 26th by the Defense Ministers of Germany and France, Boris Pistorius and Sébastien Lecornu, in Paris (ESuTreported), the BMVg has announced further details. With the MoU, the way is now clear for contract negotiations.
However, the new weapon system will be more than just a battle tank, as innovative and digital technologies for networked operations as well as the possibilities of unmanned and automated processes will be taken into account during development, writes the BMVg. The result should be a state-of-the-art land combat system with cutting-edge technologies that will prevail in high-intensity combat. “With MGCS we want to build the land combat system of the future,” explained Pistorius. A capability advantage should be achieved for national and alliance defense.
It was agreed that both countries would participate in the arms cooperation as equal partners, each contributing 50 percent of the costs and that the respective national industry would be taken into account with a corresponding share of the work.
Under the leadership of the BAAINBw, the service descriptions are now being drawn up, offers are being obtained and service contracts are being negotiated. This should be completed by the end of the year so that the contracts can be signed at the beginning of 2025 after parliamentary approval.
The contractual partner will be a project company that has yet to be founded. The BMVg names the companies KNDS Deutschland, KNDS France, Rheinmetall Landsysteme and Thales SIX as future members. These companies will have to subcontract other companies on board in order to be able to realize the respective skills with the required level of innovation.
The MGCS will consist of four platform parts, as the BMVg writes.
– Gun platform, manned, including the commander for the entire system,
– Missile platform, manned, perhaps unmanned in the long term,
– Kampfunterstützungsplattform, unbemannt und
– Deployment system
The three platforms will have the same chassis in the 50-tonne class. This means that off-road mobility and protection are the same. The similar appearance makes it difficult to identify the lead vehicle.
The operational system implements, among other things, the Combat Cloud, a central information system for exchanging command information and reconnaissance results, for example, with access via radio.
The affected technology areas are divided into eight pillars, two of which are led by Germany and France respectively. Four are under the joint leadership of the two countries.
| pillar | theme | guide | |
| 1 | MGCS platform with chassis and automated navigation | |
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| 2 | Cannon, turret and ammunition *) | |
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| 3 | Secondary armament with, for example, guided missiles | |
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| 4 | Communication, command and operations system as a “digital nervous system” | |
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| 5 | Simulation environment | |
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| 6 | Sensors | |
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| 7 | Protection and drone defense | |
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| 8 | Support, logistics and infrastructure | |
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| *) In a first step, different cannon systems should be developed nationally and a system should be selected after comparative testing. | |||
Equal distribution of tasks must be established within the pillars. This seems particularly difficult in Pillar 2, where the decision on the cannon system has to be made. The two systems to choose from come from Germany (130mm, Rheinmetall) and France (140mm, KNDS France). Choosing one system or the other will result in a reassignment of tasks within the pillar.
Those involved will face a difficult task in the next few months. Ultimately, companies with very different structures must be committed to joint, future-oriented work under one roof. On the French side, these are the companies KNDS France and Thales SIX with strong state participation. On the German side are KNDS Germany, a family-run company that is part of a joint holding company with KNDS France, and Rheinmetall Landsysteme, a division of the listed stock corporation Rheinmetall. This will be a complicated network with potentially diverging national and corporate interests.
The stated goal is to deliver the first series vehicles in the mid-2040s. That’s around twenty years from today. That's not much, especially since threats and technologies will evolve over that period. It is therefore important that the MGCS is implemented without delays so that the combat systems are not already outdated by the time they enter the force.
Gerhard Heiming