France and Germany Agree on Europe’s Next-Generation MGCS

France and Germany agreed to develop a new battle tank, the MGCS. Its turret might incorporate the French 140 mm cannon and the German 130 mm cannon. The main question is the importance of the cannon with which this Franco-German tank of the future will be equipped. This question has also been at the centre of the disagreements which have undermined this program for almost four years, given that two options face each other: the one defended by Rheinmetall, which is based on a new 130 mm L/51 cannon, “combined to a state-of-the-art automatic loader”, and that proposed by KNDS France, which is developing the ASCALON concept [Autoloaded and SCALable Outperforming guN], based on a 140 mm gun. As for the type of gun, these same “well-informed” circles indicated that no agreement had yet been found, except that it would be a question of developing a turret allowing “the integration of both of the French 140 mm cannon and the 130 mm cannon developed by Rheinmetall. Such a solution would have the merit of satisfying everyone, even if it means breaking the principle of interoperability. On the other hand, the MGCS is not just a battle tank but a “family of systems”. “Much more than a traditional heavy armoured vehicle, the MGCS is designed as a multi-platform system: a tank equipped with a large calibre cannon, accompanied by other interconnected complementary modules,” the Ministry of the Armed Forces said last October. The new tanks will feature next-generation weaponry, electronic warfare, artificial intelligence, and laser and directed energy weapons. Expected to be ready between 2035 and 2040, the MGCS is supposed to replace France’s Leclerc and Germany’s Leopard tanks. KNDS is a holding structure formed by France’s Nexter and Germany’s Krauss-Maffei-Wegmann and Rheinmetall, which make the Leclerc and Leopard tanks, respectively.