French, German defense chiefs jolt languid next-gen tank project

COLOGNE, Germany — The defense ministers of Germany and France have vowed to put fresh energy behind a bilateral push for a next-generation tank, putting a topic back on the German-Franco work docket that had gone largely silent in recent years.

The plan is for both countries to build a novel tank — complete with accompanying drones and robots — that will replace the fleets of Germany’s Leopard 2 and France’s Leclerc sometime between 2035 and 2040.

Following a July 10 meeting in Berlin between German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his French counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu, Pistorius told reporters the two leaders would begin meeting regularly to push the effort.

According to Lecornu, Monday’s gathering served to kick off what he called the “operative” phase of the German-led Main Ground Combat System. The program so far has consisted of prolonged architecture studies and experimentation that had given rivaling contractors KNDS — a French-German joint venture of Nexter and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann — and Germany’s Rheinmetall plenty of time to jockey for position with their own tank proposals .

The two leaders drew a parallel to another signature effort in Europe’s defense landscape, the Future Combat Air System, or Système de Combat Aérien du Futur in French. Led by France, officials from both countries would mirror that program’s management process for divvying up national, industrial work shares, they said.

An evaluation of military requirements for the future class of tanks is due from the two countries’ army chiefs of staff in time for the next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 22 at the Evreux air base east of Paris.

The timing of a land-focused military assessment at this stage is notably different from FCAS, where air force officials from the three partner nations only last month unveiled a new air power concept to go with the envisioned collection of next-gen planes and drones that make up the German-Franco-Spanish effort.

Pistorius opened the door to a two-pronged approach during upcoming MGCS development, saying contractors would be allowed to offer two competing systems based on a common turret and chassis. Government leaders could eventually decide to keep only one, or even pick both, he said.

Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.

德国科隆——德国和法国国防部长誓言要为下一代坦克的双边合作注入新的活力，使近年来基本处于沉寂状态的这一话题重新回到德法两国的工作议程上。

该计划是让两国建造一种新型坦克——配备配套的无人机和机器人——以取代德国的豹2坦克和法国的勒克莱尔坦克，时间在2035年至2040年之间。

7 月 10 日，德国国防部长鲍里斯·皮斯托里乌斯与法国国防部长塞巴斯蒂安·勒科尔努在柏林举行会晤。会后，皮斯托里乌斯告诉记者，两位领导人将开始定期会晤，以推动相关工作。

莱科尔努表示，周一的会议标志着由德国主导的“主战坦克系统”（Main Ground Combat System）正式进入他所谓的“作战”阶段。此前，该项目主要集中在漫长的架构研究和试验阶段，这使得竞争对手——法德合资企业KNDS（由Nexter和Krauss-Maffei Wegmann组成）以及德国莱茵金属公司——有充足的时间凭借各自的坦克方案展开竞争。

两位领导人将此与欧洲国防领域的另一项标志性项目——未来作战空中系统（法语：Système de Combat Aérien du Futur）——相提并论。他们表示，在法国的领导下，两国官员将效仿该项目的管理流程，分配国家和工业领域的工作份额。

两国陆军参谋长应在9月22日于巴黎东部的埃夫勒空军基地举行的下次会议之前，提交对未来坦克军事需求的评估报告。

现阶段以陆地为中心的军事评估的时机与未来空中作战系统（FCAS）明显不同，就在上个月，来自三个伙伴国家的空军官员才公布了一项新的空中力量概念，以配合设想中的下一代飞机和无人机系列，这些飞机和无人机构成了德国、法国和西班牙的合作项目。

皮斯托瑞斯表示，在即将进行的MGCS（机动导弹防御系统）研发过程中，可能会采取双管齐下的策略。他指出，承包商可以基于通用炮塔和底盘提供两种相互竞争的系统。政府领导人最终可能会决定只保留其中一种，甚至两种都选。

塞巴斯蒂安·斯普伦格是《防务新闻》欧洲版副主编，负责报道该地区的防务市场状况，以及美欧在防务和全球安全领域的合作和多国投资。此前，他曾担任《防务新闻》执行主编。他现居德国科隆。