France and Germany sign an agreement to jointly develop the next generation of main battle tanks

2024-04-28

According to the German news television channel website on April 26th, Germany and France hope to prepare for military threats in the coming decades by jointly developing the most advanced land combat systems. On the 26th, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and French Defense Minister Sebastian Le Corney signed an agreement ("Memorandum of Understanding") in Paris, which clarified the long-standing dispute over the division of tasks. The costly Ground Combat System (MGCS) project will be divided into eight pillars for implementation. Germany and France respectively lead the two pillars, while the other four pillars will be coordinated together. According to reports, Pistorius said at a press conference with Le Corney, "We hope to build a future land combat system through ground based main battle systems." He stated that this is not to further develop the Leopard and Leclerc main battle tanks, "but involves something new: connected tanks, some of which can also be unmanned.". The land combat system aims to connect future main battle tanks with auxiliary weapons such as drones and other unmanned systems through data networks, thereby achieving a leap in military technology. Le Corney said, "This is not about the future of tanks, but the future of tank systems." Many technologies still need to be developed or improved. The lessons learned from the Ukrainian war and assumptions about potential adversary capabilities should be taken into consideration. Weapon systems should also achieve unmanned operation, which is probably one of the measures to address the shortage of soldiers and population changes in Western society. For the ground main combat system project, the two countries plan to establish a project company, under the joint leadership of France and Germany, responsible for all four platform components of the system - artillery platform, missile platform, combat support platform, and combat system. As the first step, the two countries will develop their own artillery systems and select a system after comparative testing. According to Agence France Presse on April 26th, France and Germany further confirmed on the 26th that the two countries will jointly develop the next generation of main battle tanks equipped with artificial intelligence and laser technology, which are claimed to be able to change the rules of modern warfare. According to reports, at a ceremony held in Paris, French Defense Minister Le Corney and German Defense Minister Pistorius signed a memorandum of understanding to share the development and production task of this ground main combat system. After a series of arguments over how to support Ukraine, both Berlin and Paris hope to show a united stance, and the joint promotion of the new generation tank development plan is a manifestation of unity. In 2017, Germany and France agreed to jointly develop a new generation of main battle tanks, replacing France's Leclerc tank and Germany's Leopard main battle tank starting from 2040. However, due to competition between the industrial enterprises of the two countries and different work priorities in Berlin and Paris, this tank plan was delayed. In March of this year, the defense ministers of both countries announced in Berlin that they had managed to unlock the stalled project and reached an agreement on how to divide the labor between the two sides. On the 26th, Pistorius told reporters, "The signing of today's memorandum is a real milestone." It is said that the tank system will be equipped with cutting-edge technology, which may

Edit:Luo yu    Responsible editor:Wang er dong

Source:CKXX

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