The Franco-German defense conglomerate KNDS intends to develop a new main battle tank for the French Army based on the German Leopard 2 platform. On Monday, at the Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris, KNDS presented a model designed to replace the aging French Leclerc in the 2030s. This would represent the first joint project since the merger of German tank manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and France's Nexter eleven years ago. The new tank utilizes the Leopard 2 chassis, while the French division of KNDS is slated to contribute the unmanned turret, named Ascalon, and a 120mm cannon.

"We are bringing German and French capabilities together in one solution: designed, developed, and supported by a single company," said KNDS CEO Jean-Paul Alary at the trade fair. With the tank, named Capint, France essentially aims to bridge the gap until the joint European tank project, the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), is ready for deployment. The MGCS was originally intended to replace both the Leopard 2 and the Leclerc in the 2040s. KNDS stated that Capint paves the way for the MGCS. The Leclerc is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2038.

French Defense Minister Catherine Vautrin stated in April that the MGCS is running approximately ten years behind schedule, necessitating an interim solution. Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger remarked over the weekend that France intends to drastically cut funding for the MGCS. On Monday, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense in Berlin said that Germany and France have agreed to continue developing the MGCS as a platform-independent system and to focus on the core of the program. The objective is the research and development of technologies for the deployment and command of manned and unmanned armored combat vehicles. Whether a joint main battle tank has become obsolete remains an open question, the spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Florence Loeve and Alexander Huebner, with contributions from Andreas Rinke, edited by Thomas Seythal)