International cooperation

French, German leaders provide fresh top cover for new warplane, tank projects

German and French officials emerged from a meeting in Toulouse, France, this week with fresh promises that a next-generation aircraft program and new European battle tank spearheaded by the two countries would advance soon.

The summit declaration follows repeated reports that both projects are at risk of failure due to political and industry-related differences. In the case of the Future Combat Air System — a next-generation fighter jet with sidekick drones — Berlin and Paris have long been at odds about the exportability of the future weapon, with Germany favoring a more restrictive stance than France. Airbus and Dassault are the two main industry players in FCAS.

The Main Ground Combat System — the two countries’ idea for a European tank ready for action in the late 2030s — had been caught up in a maneuver by German manufacturer Rheinmetall to take over the Franco-German industry team of Nexter and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, called KNDS. According to a report in Germany’s newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, officials recently came to an agreement in which Rheinmetall would become a subcontractor in the project, receiving 25 percent of the work share, with Nexter getting 50 percent and KMW getting 25 percent.