France mulls fallback tank for delayed MGCS program in defense update

PARIS — France is in talks with manufacturers about an intermediary solution to replace the country’s aging Leclerc main battle tank, as a project with Germany to develop a next-generation tank is delayed, Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin told lawmakers on Wednesday. The French-German project for the future Main Combat Ground System, which was supposed to produce the Leclerc’s successor, is about a decade behind schedule, Vautrin told lawmakers in a hearing on Wednesday. The minister presented government plans to spend an additional €36 billion ($42 billion) on defense in the 2026-2030 period. The delay for the MGCS project is due to Germany deciding to start a program for new Leopard 3 tanks, according to Vautrin. That has left France having to bridge the gap between the Leclerc reaching the end of its service life in 2038, and the arrival of the MGCS, which in any case had not been expected before the early 2040s. “Regarding this intermediate capability, what we want is for it to be the first building block of the MGCS, not the last tank of the old generation,” Vautrin said. The tank would be “the first tank of a new generation of system of systems” with a particular focus on connectivity, according to the minister. The stopgap tank could be based on a KNDS Germany platform with a KNDS France turret, according to the minister. She said the turret will be French “in any case. Discussions are currently ongoing between France’s Directorate General for Armament and vario…