Aircraft carrier NG, SCAF, MGCS ..: Did France aim too high?

Just two years ago, the Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, formalized the start of study work for the construction of a new aircraft carrier intended to replace the Charles de Gaulle from 2038. Since then, much information has filtered about this program, which should be, like the Charles de Gaulle, nuclear-powered, and reach 75.000 tons of displacement, in particular to be able to implement the new 90-meter electromagnetic catapults necessary to launch the new Next Generation Fighter of the SCAF program, itself much larger than the Rafale M. Predictably, the design costs and…

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SCAF, MGCS: Franco-German cooperation restarts on good foundations against a background of concern

For nearly a year, the two flagship programs of Franco-German defense industrial cooperation, the Future Air Combat System to replace the Rafale and Typhoon, and the Main Ground Combat System to replace the Leclerc and Leopard 2 tanks, encountered immense difficulties around sharing and industrial cooperation between French players, Dassault aviation and Nexter, and their German counterparts, Airbus DS and Rheinmetall, putting both initiatives on hold. After many months of arm wrestling and tense declarations, no agreement seemed in sight at the beginning of September, with everyone sticking to their positions, and…

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6 recurring but erroneous statements around the SCAF next-generation aircraft program

Announced in 2017 shortly after Emmanuel Macron's arrival at the Elysée for his first term, the SCAF program, for Future Air Combat System, represents one of the two main pillars, along with the MGCS program, of France's ambition -Germany developed on this date to strengthen European strategic autonomy in the field of defense around strategic industrial cooperation between the two countries. Since then, the program has integrated Spain within it, but has above all been marked by growing and increasingly divisive tensions between Paris and Berlin, more particularly between the industrialists of the two countries, in particular around the first and main 7 pillars…

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4 arguments in favor of developing a Leclerc 2 tank ahead of the Franco-German MGCS program

Among the many lessons inherited from the conflict in Ukraine, the central role of the battle tank in land manoeuvre, whether offensive or defensive, is probably the one that most contradicted many certainties inherited from the end of the Cold War, as well as the 2 Iraqi wars. For many armed forces, until recently, the battle tank was a heritage on the verge of obsolescence, faced with the multiplication and densification of threats with the arrival of increasingly efficient anti-tank systems, including in the hands of the infantry. In Ukraine, however, as was the case in the…

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AbramsX, Panther, Black Panther: in the face of emerging competition, should the MGCS program be accelerated?

On the occasion of the AUSA exhibition which will take place from October 10 to 12 in the suburbs of Washington, the armored vehicle manufacturer General Dynamics Land Systems, formerly Chrysler and designer of the famous Abrams combat tank and the Stryker armored vehicle, will present a new generation of armored vehicles based on hybrid electric propulsion and the integration of the latest technological advances in this field such as Hard-Kill systems and new generation visualization/command/communication systems. Among them is the StrykerX, a redesign of the 8×8 under-armoured personnel carrier equipped with all of these technologies, as well as the AbramsX, a reboot in…

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4 Reasons to Accelerate the Schedule of SCAF and MGCS Programs

While Franco-German cooperation around the 6th generation SCAF combat aircraft programs and the new generation MGCS combat tank program seemed destined to join the very long list of aborted defense industrial cooperation, the Minister for the Armed Forces, Sebastien Lecornu, and the German Defense Minister, Christine Lambrecht, announced at a joint press conference last week that these programs will come to an end, suggesting that the executive on both sides of the Rhine now intended to regain control of the conduct of these programs. This reaffirmed and determined political will, but also the geopolitical context...

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SCAF, MGCS: Politics regains control of Franco-German defense industrial cooperation

“Many things have been said or written in recent weeks, I think that with one sentence, we will cut it short by saying that the SCAF is a priority project. […] It is awaited as much by Berlin as by Paris and this project will be done, we cannot be more direct” In a single sentence, the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sebastien Lecornu, cut short all speculation concerning the future of the new generation combat aircraft program undertaken by Paris, Berlin and Madrid. And to add “We need to think about what will be the fighter aviation of the future, since we…

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Olaf Scholz wants Germany to take the lead in European Defence, alone!

A few days ago, we wrote that Germany was turning away from France without saying so in matters of defence. From now on, it is said, and in a very clear way. During a speech at the conference “The Bundeswehr in a new era”, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz clearly defined Berlin's roadmap in the years and decades in Europe. "Let's be perfectly clear, Germany is ready to take a leading position for the protection of the European continent." And to add “As the most populous country, having the most powerful economy in Europe and positioned at the heart…

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Arrow 3, KF-51 Panther, F-35..: Germany turns its back on France without saying so

For several months, the Franco-German defense industrial cooperation programs have suffered from a deep industrial divergence, as is the case of the opposition between Dassault Aviation and Airbus DS in the field of the new combat aircraft program SCAF generation, or between Nexter and Rheinmetall in that of the combat tank program of the future MGCS. In addition, Berlin has distanced itself or even withdrawn from certain cooperation, such as the MAWS maritime patrol aircraft program scuttled by the acquisition of American P-8A Poseidons, the program for the evolution of the combat helicopter Tiger 3 which will only be produced by Paris and Madrid (but to which the…

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Can the EMBT heavy tank from KNDS win against the KF-51 Panther from Rheinmetall?

The last Eurodatory 2022 exhibition devoted to land armaments was marked by the presentation of two new European tanks, a first for thirty years. Jointly engaged in a Franco-German MGCS program aimed at designing the replacement for the Leopard 2 and the Leclerc, Rheinmetall on the one hand, and the Nexter-KMW couple grouped in the KNDS group on the other, each presented their champion, the prototype of the KF-51 Panther of the first, and the Enhanced Main Battle Tank or EMBT demonstrator of the second. If, during the show, the two armored vehicles were more or less on an equal footing, both in terms of announced capacities and audience, the situation has…

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