MGCS, Italy ready to climb with Leonardo on the European tank with France and Germany?
According to the French newspaper La Tribune, Paris intends to involve our country (with Leonardo) in the MGCS (Main Ground Combat Systems) programme, the combat tank of the future. But what does Berlin think about it?
Is the Italian Leonardo close to joining the Franco-German Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) project?
According to rumors in the French newspaper La Tribune , France and Italy recently agreed to propose to Germany the inclusion of the Italian defense group Leonardo in the tank program of the future MGCS.
For Paris, which seems to no longer want to be overtaken by Berlin in its cooperation programmes, the choice would be take it or leave it, underlines the transalpine newspaper.
Known as the Main Ground Combat System, the Mgcs is a project by Knds, a Franco-German consortium formed by the defense groups Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW, Germany) and Nexter Defense Systems (France) in cooperation with Rheinmetall.
Franco-German cooperation in the field of defense has struggled to materialize on the two major projects FCAS and MGCS, both launched in 2017. The first is the French-led FCAS (Future Air Combat System) programme. The FCAS project also suffered a long stall due to disagreements between Dassault Aviation and Airbus on the division of work. Frictions only overcome last December after intense political pressure.
However, on July 10 the defense ministers of Germany and France, Boris Pistorius and Sebastien Lecornu, met in Berlin to discuss the "further phases" of the main land combat system (MGCS).
So the next steps could see the entry of Leonardo with the subsidiary Oto Melara in the MGCS project, according to La Tribune, which recalls how last June at the Bourget air show, the Italian defense minister Guido Crosetto revealed in a tweet that he had had a "long conversation" with his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu on various topics, including one on "cooperation in the defense industry sector".
All the details.
PARIS AND ROME NEARBY IN THE DEFENSE SECTOR
The hypothesis of Leonardo's entry into the Mgcs project with Oto Melara is therefore back in the limelight. The Tribune claims that "since the beginning of this year, France and Italy have relaunched their cooperation in the field of armaments". For the French newspaper, Rome seems to have become the new favorite playmate of Paris, which – it is true – has been receiving slaps and slaps from its German partner for more than five years (Tiger Mark 3, MAWS, MHT missile…)”.
To corroborate this thesis, La Tribune recalls that our country recently decided to join the Franco-British FMAN/FMC program (Anti-Ship Missile Future/Cruise Missile Future), led by MBDA.
Furthermore, again at the Paris Air Show in June, Segredifesa signed bilateral agreements between Italy and France on defense including the Memorandum Of Understanding of the Mid-Life Upgrade of the Horizon class naval units. The modernization is entrusted to Naviris, the 50/50 joint venture between the Italian Fincantieri and the French Naval Group, and to Eurosam, a consortium formed by Mbda and Thales.
Therefore, according to La Tribune , Paris and Rome wish to further deepen their relations in terms of defense cooperation by inviting Leonardo to the MGCS programme.
THE FRANCO-GERMAN PROJECT FOR THE EUROPEAN TANK OF THE FUTURE
German-led, MGCS is one of two defense partnerships between France and Germany, which aims to replace France's Leclercs and Germany's Leopard 2s by 2035. At the moment, the program has completed the first two phases and Paris and Berlin have so far allocated identical budgets to cover the initial studies.
WHAT STAGE IS THE MGCS PROGRAM AT
In February, the French defense minister declared that the MGCS is a priority program and that the 2035 (or 2040) target remained unchanged. “We will need a frontal tank, according to the timetable, and an aircraft of the future. Whatever happens, we will need a plane and a tank,” Sébatien Lecornu had assured .
The French minister had also specified that a "status point" will be sent to Parliament "in 2025".
SWEDEN AND ITALY OBSERVERS OF THE PROGRAM
Right from the start, both Italy and Poland repeatedly asked to join the MGCS programme, but Paris and Berlin wanted to keep the project exclusively bilateral until a prototype was developed.
But Franco-German cooperation cracked and the project got stuck in the architectural study phase, which was regularly extended for several months. Meanwhile, Sweden and Italy joined the MGCS program as observers, first Stockholm in 2021, then Rome last year .
WHAT MEANS FOR OUR COUNTRY TO JOIN THE MGCS (WITH LEONARDO)
For the French newspaper, Italy's official adhesion to the MGCS program would allow the very gradual replacement by 2040 of the Ariete wagons produced by the Cio (Iveco-Oto Melara Consortium, 125 of which (out of 200) will have to be renewed, and above all the future Leopard 2A8 tanks (produced by Kmw with a 20-30% stake in Rheinmetall) depending on the progress of the Mgcs programme.
In July, Defense Undersecretary Isabella Rauti confirmed the inclusion of the acquisition program for the new Leopard 2 tanks among those scheduled to start in the 2023-2025 Dpp and at the same time the continuation of the "modernization of the Ariete tanks". Then there is the third line of action of the Italian Defense which concerns "deeper cooperation with the German counterpart will facilitate the inclusion in the Franco-German Main Ground Combat System – MGCS project, which is expected not to come online before of 2040” Rauti underlined in the parliamentary hearing.
Furthermore, Italy would enter into an important arms program in Europe becoming a full partner in the image of the Tempest program , rival of the FCAS for the sixth generation fighter, La Tribune underlines again.
THE CONSEQUENCES
Finally, "for France, Italy's entry into the Mgcs would make it possible to rebalance the balance of power within a program blocked by Rheinmetall's activism, which aims to reduce the participation of KNDS, including that of France", says The Tribune .
So far, the manufacturers have not found an agreement on the distribution of tasks, especially regarding the armament of the future tank.
Despite the already mentioned meeting last July between the defense ministers in Paris and Berlin to reinvigorate the program, the industrial issues of the MGCS project take precedence over military needs (entry into service of the first systems starting from 2035), underlines the french newspaper.
WAITING FOR THE NEXT STEPS
Therefore, according to La Tribune , by now the question "has very clearly become a France/Italy match against Germany".
“We want to do it. And we don't do it just for industrial reasons. We have to define a future for this segment of military equipment”, declared the French minister Lecornu during the joint press conference with his counterpart Pistorios last July. The two agreed on a new meeting at the end of September on this project which should succeed, according to the minister, between 2035 and 2040. Pistorius anticipated that both parties intend to meet again at the end of September in France and do everything possible to ensure by then the inspectors of the respective armies have prepared a background document on which to discuss the next steps.
THE FUTURE OF OTO MELARA
What La Tribune did not mention is that Leonardo's participation in the MGCS program with Oto Melara is closely linked to the future of the group's land-based armaments subsidiary put up for sale together with Wass by Leonardo in 2021, a sale that has remained on standby .
At the end of 2021, the Franco-German giant Knds had made an offer for Leonardo's two subsidiaries . But Rheinmetall has also bet on Oto Melara and Wass, intending to acquire 49% of Oto Melara and Wass from Leonardo, with an option for a further 2%.
In the meantime, Leonardo has changed helmsman and the new CEO Roberto Cingolani is preparing the new industrial plan which, according to Secolo XIX , could provide for a rationalization of the electronics product portfolio, the largest of Leonardo's divisions, with activities distributed both Genoa and La Spezia. According to the Ligurian newspaper, in Piazza Monte Grappa "the opportunity to divide the naval defense systems from the land defense systems, making them autonomous" is being studied: in this case, sources explain, the question is still "subject to analysis and involves Oto Melara, Wass and Orizzonte Sistemi Navali”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/mgcs-italia-pronta-a-salire-con-leonardo-sul-carro-armato-europeo-con-francia-e-germania/ on Fri, 25 Aug 2023 14:19:35 +0000.