Overview
- Citing a Thursday hearing, General Fabien Mandon said Germany has decided to withdraw from the MGCS programme and that the industrial offer submitted in early 2026 could not meet a replacement need around 2037.
- France has responded by launching a national 'capacité intermédiaire' plan and KNDS France says it will deliver a demonstrator to the DGA by 2030 with possible first deliveries in 2035–2037.
- Germany has opened a national Leopard replacement study and German industry won cartel approval in December 2025 for a KNDS Deutschland–Rheinmetall cooperation often described in reporting as a 'Leopard 3' effort.
- The joint MGCS timetable has slipped by about a decade to the late 2040s and Paris and Berlin now publicly contest who bears responsibility for the breakdown; industrial disputes over governance and the entry of Rheinmetall fractured the original four‑partner structure.
- The split will affect French and German procurement and readiness by forcing interim buys and delays to Leclerc and Leopard replacement schedules and it deepens concern about the future of broader Franco‑German defence cooperation after the SCAF setback.