Adapting European tanks to the war of tomorrow
Thales is an invaluable partner of several European countries in the design of their future combat vehicles, and coordinates the European FMBTech project. The objective is to design a new system architecture aimed at making current and future tank fleets smarter, more agile and more efficient.
The modernisation of the tanks used by European armies is one of the priorities of the common defence policy. We were reminded of this in May 2024, with the list of the 54 projects eligible for funding from the EDF (European Defence Fund) that was unveiled by the European Commission a few days after the relaunch of the Franco-German MGCS1 combat vehicle programme. They included two 20 million euro projects focused on technologies aimed at developing the European tank of the future. The first, MARTE (for Main armoured tank of Europe), under the leadership of a German consortium, began in December 2024. The second, FMBTech (Technologies for existing and Future MBTs) was officially launched in November 2024.
Coordinated by Thales, this initiative currently involves 26 different entities from 13 EU countries and Norway. It will focus on collaboration within European defence organisations to stimulate, strengthen and co-construct solutions that meet the needs of tomorrow’s armies. Its main mission will be to develop new technological bricks designed to adapt battle tanks to the conditions of modern hybrid warfare, by making them smarter and more agile. These modular, adaptive and interconnected solutions based on cutting-edge technologies (artificial intelligence, cooperative systems, active protection...) will be adapted not only to tanks being developed, but also to current fleets, in order to meet the modernisation needs of an often aging fleet. This will increase safety and cost-effectiveness, which will enable this system to maintain its critical role on the battlefield, whilst bridging the gap with emerging fifth-generation capabilities.
1 Main Ground Combat System. Initially launched in 2017, this ambitious bilateral programme between France and Germany, which Thales is contributing to, aims to replace the Leclerc and Leopard 2 combat tanks with a new generation of ground-based combat vehicles by 2040.