Armin Papperger, CEO of Germany's largest arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, has not ruled out the possibility that France could withdraw from the Franco-German Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) programme, following the collapse of the joint FCAS fighter jet project. "There is always a risk, but nothing has been decided yet," Papperger told Welt am Sonntag.
France is reportedly planning to slash its MGCS funding to less than half of previously agreed levels. "We have zero decisions on the final budget," Papperger said. He warned that reduced funding would inevitably mean cuts to the project's scope and cause further delays.
"If you have less money available, you won't go faster, and we are already very slow," he said. In nearly a decade since the programme was launched, the four companies involved have received a combined total of only 25 million euros. "That is of course very little money," Papperger acknowledged.
Both the FCAS fighter jet programme and the MGCS tank project were announced simultaneously in 2017 by French President Emmanuel Macron and then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel. While FCAS was centred on developing a sixth-generation combat aircraft to replace both the Eurofighter and France's Rafale, MGCS focuses on a ground-based combat system and a jointly developed successor tank to Germany's Leopard 2 and France's Leclerc.
With MGCS moving at a crawl, the German companies involved, Rheinmetall and KNDS Deutschland, began developing the Leopard 3 as an interim solution roughly a year ago. The first vehicles are expected to enter service in the early 2030s, while the MGCS tank is not anticipated to be combat-ready until the 2040s. "That is an insane amount of time," Papperger said. "I cannot say today whether there will be an MGCS at all."
Papperger also identified significant barriers to consolidating the European defence industry. The FCAS failure was, in his view, likely a mix of government and industry disagreements, driven by national self-interest. "If you want consolidation in Europe, it would of course have to be politically supported in some way.
But we don't see that at the moment," he said. Consolidation, he argued, has to come from the companies themselves. "It is sometimes obstructed by governments, especially when state-owned enterprises are involved. Governments want to maintain their influence over state companies and naturally do not want consolidation," Papperger explained.
From breaking news to thought-provoking opinion pieces, our newsletter keeps you informed & engaged.
