The head of Rheinmetall allowed France to withdraw from the MGCS tank project

France may withdraw from a joint project with Germany to develop a promising MGCS (Main Ground Combat System) tank, which could be another blow to defense cooperation in Europe following the failure of the FCAS fighter project. This assumption was made by Armin Papperger, CEO of the German defense concern Rheinmetall.

"The risk [of France withdrawing from the project] always exists, but nothing has been decided yet," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Papperger clarified that Paris is already considering the possibility of drastically reducing investments in the tank project and added that during negotiations between German KNDS and French Thales, the idea of cutting costs "almost by half" compared to the previously planned figure was discussed.

At the same time, a Reuters source in the French government familiar with the situation said that the project is still important for France and Germany, in particular for KNDS.

The agency recalls that in 2017, Berlin and Paris agreed to cooperate in the development of a Franco-German main battle tank, which was supposed to replace the German Leopard 2 and the French Leclerc, but the project faced problems and delays in development.

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Back in 2023, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported that the project of a new MGCS tank jointly developed by Germany and France, which is due to enter the market in 2035, is on the verge of failure. Germany has planned to allocate almost 83.5 million euros for the development of the tank over the year. However, the French side is annoyed that the German concern Rheinmetall is involved in the project, which has strengthened its market position due to the conflict in Ukraine.

On June 8, 2026, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron decided to terminate a joint project to develop a new generation fighter aircraft, the Future Combat Air System (FCAS). The leaders came to the conclusion that it would not be possible to overcome the protracted disagreements between the participants of the program.