Germany, France reach ‘breakthrough’ deal on MGCS tank development, minister says

BERLIN (Reuters) -Berlin and Paris have reached a “breakthrough” on how to develop a planned next-generation tank known as the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) and split up tasks between the two nations, the defence ministers of both countries said on Friday.

“This is more than a milestone, it is a historic moment”, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said, speaking alongside his French counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu.

The tank, which is supposed to replace Germany’s legacy Leopard and France’s Leclerc systems, is the second major arms industry project between the two countries alongside their ambitions to build a next-generation fighter jet known as FCAS.

The agreement sealed on Friday includes an understanding to equally split up industrial volumes between the two countries, Pistorius said, adding that a formal document to kick off the first development phase will be signed in Paris on April 26.

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, France’s Lecornu said the FCAS fighter jet programme is also making “good progress”, without giving further details on the state of its development.

The ministers and their teams have reached an agreement to allow tank producer KNDS set up a local branch in Ukraine to produce spare parts in the war-torn country and train local workers, Lecornu said.

“We are announcing that KNDS (…) a German-French company will take a foothold in Ukraine with a local unit,” Lecornu said at a meeting with his German counterpart in Berlin.

Tank producer KNDS is the holding structure formed by France’s Nexter and Germany’s Krauss-Maffei-Wegmann.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; editing by Matthias Williams, William Maclean)