Mired up to its tracks, the Franco-German tank of the future project has just gotten out of the rut.
Launched in 2017, the concept has been floundering since then amid disagreements between manufacturers on both sides of the Rhine.
The French and German defense ministers have just reached an agreement that seems to satisfy both parties.
KNDS, the arms company which brings together the French Nexter and the German group Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, will be at the center of the project alongside the juggernaut Rheinmetall, manufacturer of the Leopard 2 tank and whose late arrival in 2018 had almost made ruin everything.
The trio will be responsible for developing the MGCS (Main Ground Combat System).
But the military will have to be patient before seeing the ultra-modern machine arrive in the units since we are talking about 2040, or even 2045 for the first deliveries.
“Until then, a crucial question will arise for our army since there will be a shortage of spare parts to maintain the French Leclerc tanks, production of which stopped in 2008,” warns Léo Péria-Peigné, researcher at the Institute. French for international relations (Ifri).
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