France and Germany reaffirmed their commitment to the MGCS project to develop a joint land combat system, amid growing speculation that it could be implemented on a smaller scale than originally planned. The reaffirmation came as both countries view the project as a key part of their cooperation on land systems and the future of their armed forces.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the project was not over, would not be shelved and had not been cancelled by anyone. On the contrary, he said, it was a fundamental project at the heart of Franco-German cooperation on land systems, stressing that it was fully assured and highly important as a future project for both countries and their armed forces.
French Defence Minister Catherine Vautrin, for her part, stressed that the tank project remained highly important to France and Germany.
The project is part of plans to modernise the land forces
The project is linked to the two countries' plans to modernise their land capabilities. They seek to gradually retire the main battle tanks currently in service and replace them with the joint combat system under development.
