KNDS Deutschland, KNDS France, Rheinmetall Landsysteme and Thales signed the shareholders' agreement for the "MGCS Project Company GmbH" in Cologne, on Thursday, January 23, 2025 in Paris, in the presence of the French Minister of Defense Sébastien Lecornu and the German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius.
MGCS, acronym for Main Ground Combat System, is a Franco-German armament program designed to replace main battle tanks Leopard 2 e Leclerc with a cross-platform combat system by 2040.
The signing of the shareholders' agreement represents an essential step towards the forthcoming creation of the MGCS Project Company. After negotiating a contract with the Bundesamt für Ausrüstung, Informationstechnik und Nutzung der Bundeswehr (BAAINBw), which acts on behalf of the two states through a Combined Project Team (CPT) Franco-German, this project company will be responsible, as prime industrial contractor, for the implementation of the next phase of the MGCS program. In particular, it will consolidate the concept and the main technological pillars of the system.
The company will be owned equally by the four parties (25% each), with a national division of labor of 50% for Germany and 50% for France, and will be headquartered in Cologne, Germany.
The industrial partners of the MGCS programme enthusiastically welcome this signature, which follows the impetus given by the French and German governments in spring 2024, with the signing of a Letter of Intent (LOI).