Hoping to end six years of dithering by their army staffs and infighting by their industry, the French and German defense ministers on Thursday voiced strong support for their troubled Medium Ground Combat System (MGCS) program at the conclusion of a short meeting in Evreux, France.
The two ministers insisted they are determined to see the program through, and insisted that the MGCS is not intended to simply replace their Leopard and Leclerc main battle tanks, but more ambitiously aims to develop a completely new range of weapons, comprising tanks, drones, command networks and even laser and electromagnetic weapons, to revolutionize ground combat.
The objective is to have MGCS in service by the mid-2040s, the ministers said, leaving ample time for Germany to complete the very profitable production of its Leopard 2 series of tanks before moving on. However, the French army needs to replace its upgraded Leclerc tanks by the mid-2030s, which leaves a crucial schedule mismatch unresolved.
Nonetheless, and as a first concrete step, the French and German army chiefs of staff, Gen. Pierre Schill and Gen. Alfons Mais, signed a High Level Common Operational Requirements Document (HLCORD) setting out the program’s goals as the two ministers looked on.
Similar documents have been signed in the past, but the ministers seem to consider that their newly voiced determination to complete the program will be enough to make this document more significant than its predecessors.
The new approach to the program – which will also help clarify national responsibilities and leadership – is to define a number of technology pillars, and to divide their development between each country’s industry. This is the same architecture that finally got their joint FCAS fighter program moving, and the ministers seem to believe it will work the same magic on the MGCS.
In any case, the two voiced a strong determination to get the program moving, with initial proposals from industry due by year-end. Pistorius hopes to award initial definition contracts to industry in 2024, and Lecornu also seems eager to spend the €500 million that the recently voted defense program law has earmarked for the program.