BONN (dpa-AFX) - The German Federal Cartel Office has given the two defense companies KNDS Deutschland and Rheinmetall permission to jointly develop a new battle tank. The project, unofficially dubbed "Leopard 3" by the military press, is intended to be an interim solution until 2045. According to the Federal Cartel Office, neither of the two companies would have been able to meet the requirements on its own. No impairment of competition is to be expected, said Andreas Mundt, President of the Federal Cartel Office.
2045 is the current target date for the delivery of the first joint German-French tank, which is currently known under the acronym MGCS (Main Ground Combat System). This is obviously taking too long for the German Armed Forces, so an interim solution is now to be found.
Competition for the next-generation tank
Munich-based KNDS Deutschland – or rather its predecessor Krauss Maffei Wegmann – and Rheinmetall have been cooperating for decades anyway. KNDS recently unveiled a new version of the Leopard 2, which has been in production since 1979, and the company has already received around 400 orders from six countries. Rheinmetall is involved in the Leopard 2 as a supplier of the 120 mm cannon and ammunition, among other things.
Rheinmetall is currently working on an even larger cannon with a caliber of 130 mm, which would then presumably also be considered as armament for the "Leopard 3." Apart from that, the Düsseldorf-based company presented an independently developed tank called the KF51 "Panther" in 2022, of which Italy, among others, has since ordered a large number. This project caused a stir for several reasons. Not only because Rheinmetall was years ahead of the German-French MGCS project, but also because the company revived the name of a Wehrmacht tank from World War II.
