Franco-German KNDS launches new tank for France as joint project lags

By Florence Loeve

PARIS, June 15 (Reuters) – Defence group KNDS launched a new battle tank on Monday as a stopgap replacement for France’s ageing Leclerc fleet, as questions grow over the future of a long-delayed joint French and German project to develop a next-generation tank.

Concerns about a growing threat from Russia, coupled with U.S. President Donald Trump’s increasing reluctance to back Europe’s defence, have governments rushing to step up military capacity, but collaboration on defence production is facing challenges.

The launch of the KNDS tank at the Eurosatory exhibition near Paris follows last week’s decision by France and Germany to drop their joint FCAS fighter jet programme after months of disputes between Airbus and Dassault Aviation.

KNDS said the CAPINT, for “intermediary capability”, combines a chassis produced by its German division and a tank gun made by its French division.

It aims to strengthen French Army capabilities, KNDS said, and will “pave the way” for the next-generation Main Ground Combat System. 

Initiated in 2017, the MGCS is intended to replace Germany’s Leopard 2 and France’s Leclerc tanks, with entry into service initially targeted for 2040 to 2045.

The Leclerc tanks are due to be taken out of service by 2038. 

In April, French Armed Forces ​Minister Catherine Vautrin told parliament that Paris had decided to launch an “intermediate” tank programme to mitigate delays affecting MGCS, which she said was running about 10 years behind schedule.

The CEO of German group Rheinmetall, one of the MGCS initiative’s shareholders, was quoted over the weekend as saying France was considering drastic cuts to the project’s funding. A French government source said the project remains important for France and Germany as well as for KNDS.

However, a German government spokesperson raised doubts again on Monday by saying the project would be focussed on ‘platform-independent’ technologies, adding that it was not clear whether a joint tank would still be built.

KNDS CEO Jean-Paul Alary told reporters at Eurosatory that he could not comment on the status of the MGCS, which is a political issue, but added it would be “very bad news” for Europe if the project fell apart.

Germany began working on its own plans parallel to MGCS in 2025, with an intermediate tank developed by KNDS Germany and Rheinmetall called Leopard 2AX or Leopard 3 to succeed its Leopard 2 fleet.

KNDS is preparing an IPO for a dual-listing in Frankfurt and Paris expected this year. Asked about timing, Alary said the best scenario would be “as soon as we can”.

German newspaper Handelsblatt reported that Paris and Berlin had reached a deal on Monday after the German government requested safeguards ahead of the IPO to prevent know-how from leaking out of Germany. The German chancellery did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

KNDS Chairman Tom Enders was cited in the report as warning against a shift toward national protectionism that could undermine European defence cooperation.

(Reporting by Florence Loève. Additional reporting by Friederike Heine in Berlin; Editing by Dominique Patton, Joe Bavier and Alexander Smith)