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Key Points and Summary: Germany and France are collaborating on the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), a next-generation tank to replace aging Leopard 2 and Leclerc platforms.

-Integrating artificial intelligence and advanced networking, MGCS will counter modern threats such as kamikaze drones and anti-tank missiles.

-It will feature improved active protection systems, powerful 130mm or 140mm main guns, and 3D-printed spare parts for rapid battlefield repairs.

-Designed for NATO interoperability, the tank will enhance communication between vehicles and infantry.

-While challenges like drone swarms and logistical demands persist, MGCS aims to redefine armored warfare and set a new standard for NATO’s future battlefields.

Main Ground Combat System: Revolutionizing Modern Battlefields

When developing a next-generation tank, two heads are better than one. That’s what the Germans and the French are thinking. Both countries are now working together for the so-called Main Ground Combat System, a whiz-bang armored vehicle chock full of new features that will make Russia take notice.

German Leopard 2 and French Leclerc tanks are getting older. Instead of each country spending an undetermined and costly amount of time and money on a new tank, French and German designers and engineers are pooling brainpower and resources.

Challenges Have Cropped Up from the War in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has shown that tanks have many challenges to overcome. The main problem besides anti-tank missiles is suicide drones. 

Swarms of kamikaze unmanned craft pose quite a challenge. They come in droves to overwhelm sensors and dive down to destroy the turrets of tanks where armor is least effective. 

Many tanks are adding “cages” or up-armored steel racks to better protect against the loitering munitions, but these contraptions still leave armored vehicles vulnerable.

Previous German and French Tanks Need Improvements

The time has come for something new from the NATO allies. 

The German Leopard 2 has been updated to create several excellent variants, but the platform entered service in the 1970s. The French Leclerc has been around since the 1990s, so it is a younger model, but it is not seen as something that could survive on the modern battlefield.

Leopard 2 Tank

These tanks have little upside when it comes to protecting crewmen from anti-tank missiles and drones. 

There are just so many times that an older platform can be updated before it is time for something new.

Artificial Intelligence for Better Networking 

The Main Ground Combat System will look for improved ways to network with artificial intelligence onboard that could provide active protection systems with new tactical arrangements to better address the drone threat.

 The Main Ground Combat System will also need AI to sense incoming missiles so the tank can perform countermeasures. 

Networking among different models of armored vehicles from different countries is the name of the game in multinational warfare. The Ukrainians have fought with tanks and armored personnel carriers from several different armies. 

Leopard 2 Tank

A Norwegian Leopard 2A4 main battle tank during Iron Wolf II in Lithuania. It involves 2,300 troops from 12 NATO Allies. The Lithuanian-led exercise is helping to train the NATO Battlegroup which consists of soldiers from Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway. Shot in Rukla, Lithuania.

These platforms need to “talk” to each other in a way that leads to success. That means communication between dismounted soldiers and tank crews is paramount, especially in an armored cavalry situation where infantry fighting vehicles remain on the flanks to provide support and infantry can knock out enemy anti-tank missile crews and blow up drones before they hit tanks.

Decision-making in Seconds, Not Minutes

As one defense contractor describes it, “this program means developing key technologies, including a decision-centric battle management solution. After all, the intelligent fusion of data from different sources not only confers an information advantage but also decision-making superiority. And the ability to make faster and more purposeful decisions – in other words, to issue commands and initiate action – also considerably improves the likelihood of mission success. This is especially so when such detailed overviews of a situation can also be exchanged between vehicles and platoons. All information is to be accessed by all vehicles at all times.”

New Ways to Deliver Spare Parts and a New Main Gun

The war in Ukraine has shown that armored vehicles need new types of logistical and supply chains to repair damaged models. 

Spare parts that could be 3D-printed close to the battlefield could solve this problem.

This revolution in tank warfare also means heavy firepower. The French and German designers working with Rheinmetall hope to integrate a more powerful main gun, something as large as 130mm or 140mm, to take on heavily armored adversarial tanks. 

This could set the standard for all new NATO tanks in the future.

Leopard 2 Tank. Image Credit Creative Commons.

Leopard 2 Tank. Image Credit Creative Commons.

The main issue for the Main Ground Combat System is the need to counteract drone swarms. The top of the turret needs better armor. 

Sensors need to sniff out kamikaze craft. New active measures are paramount, such as a remote-controlled chain gun that could be connected autonomously to onboard computers with artificial intelligence. This robotic chain gun could destroy the loitering munitions before they hit the tank.

The French and Germans must set a NATO standard with the more powerful main gun on board that other NATO tanks can adopt in the future. 

Does the Tank Truly Have a Future? 

The French and German engineers and designers thus know what they are up against. The language barrier could cause the project some growing pains, but this effort will take battlefield intelligence from a modern fight and make much-needed adjustments to what we see on other tanks. 

It’s time to re-imagine armored vehicles, and the Franco-German project should yield a revolutionary tank that can change the situation in the next armored battlefield. 

About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood 

Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare, plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.