Germany quits Franco-German MGCS tank programme, French chief of defence says

Germany steps out of the tank programme

Germany has decided to leave the Franco-German Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) programme, French chief of defence staff General Fabien Mandon said on Thursday 8 October 2026 while testifying to lawmakers at a hearing on next year's defence budget. The programme, agreed by Paris and Berlin in 2017, was designed to replace France's Leclerc and Germany's Leopard 2 main battle tanks. RFI put its planned service entry at 2040 to 2045, while BFMTV said the tank had been expected around 2045. Mandon summed up the outcome in blunt terms.

The outcome isn't good. We had hoped to build a future tank in cooperation with the Germans, but unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the Germans have withdrawn from the project.

Not a complete failure

Mandon stopped short of calling the programme a complete failure. Answering a question from a National Rally lawmaker, he said Germany's decision was important but did not amount to a failure of the wider military cooperation. He said the two countries' land forces had worked together for several years to define what a future main battle tank should be, and that the work had not been wasted. On the failure question, he said:

This is not a complete failure, it is an important German choice.

He added that from an industrial point of view the news was not good. A German defence ministry official declined to comment on his remarks.

Disputes over work, money and leadership

Paris and Berlin agreed in 2017 to build the tank, and Rheinmetall joined the project in 2019, a move BFMTV said upset the initial balance. The industrial partners listed by Naftemporiki are KNDS France, KNDS Germany, Rheinmetall and Thales. Disputes centred on how industrial work was divided between French and German companies, who would lead the programme, how it was funded, and which technologies to prioritise, including the main gun calibre and tactical role. In recent months Rheinmetall chief executive Armin Papperger told Welt am Sonntag that a French withdrawal was a risk. According to Papperger's information, Paris was considering cutting its financial contribution to less than half of the budget originally planned. Prospects for the programme had already grown increasingly gloomy by June.

A planned system of systems and a second collapse

The MGCS was conceived as a system of systems built around a new main battle tank, linked to heavy-calibre gun tanks, heavy missile armoured vehicles, laser-armed robotic support vehicles and drones. Its planned technologies included artificial intelligence, a high-speed combat cloud and a high-power hybrid powerpack developed by Rolls-Royce and ZF. The announcement came four months after the failure of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), a fighter jet programme that France, Germany and Spain had launched in 2017 to replace the Rafale and Eurofighter from the 2040s. Service entry is no longer expected before the 2040s, and possibly not until 2045.