Polish defence minister hints at joining Franco-German fighter jet, tank projects

Poland could be open to joining Franco-German defence projects that are supposed to yield a European-made fighter jet and battle tank, the country’s Defence Minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, hinted on Monday (24 June), stopping short of direct confirmation.

France and Germany have been working on jointly developing a next-generation fighter jet and a new battle tank to form the heart of their future armed forces as part of the ‘Future Combat Air System’ (FCAS) and ‘Main Ground Combat System’ (MGCS) projects. 

Kosiniak-Kamysz’s comments hinted that Poland is interested in joining the projects in some capacity after months of speculations, as cooperation between the three countries, also dubbed the ‘Weimar Triangle’, had intensified with the return of Donald Tusk as Polish prime minister. 

He refrained from confirming, though.

“When it comes to wide-reaching weapon systems, at the initiative of France and Germany, I expressed openness today. I am open for our allies in the Weimar triangle in all these areas to strengthen our ties,” Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters after a trilateral meeting of the defence ministers, when asked if Poland would consider joining MGCS and FCAS.

“We are interested to have closer ties also in terms of defence industry,” he said. 

In an apparent dig at soured trilateral relations during the reign of the hard-right PiS government, he added: “We have wasted years where cooperation was not good, and we are now interested in strengthening ties.” 

In turn, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius had previously suggested that Poland might join the MGCS project when signing a memorandum of understanding on the development of the tank in April together with his French counterpart Sébastien Lécornu. 

“Once the contract is finalised, it will, of course, be a matter of getting other partners on board,” Pistorius told reporters. 

“I see Italy there, but I also see other potential interested parties. (…) It is important that we include Poland with its new government,” he added.

Long way to go

FCAS is supposed to replace the Rafale jet in France and the Eurofighter Typhoon in Germany while MGCS is supposed to replace the French Leclerc and the German Leopard tank.

Yet both projects are stuck in early stages, and the first products are not expected to become available to armed forces before 2040. 

While the FCAS project, which also includes Spain, entered the phase of active technological development in 2020, it had been dubious for a long time whether the development of MGCS would materialise at all. 

Following a concerted push from Pistorius and Lécornu, MGCS finally entered the development stage earlier this year with a joint memorandum of understanding signing. 

[Edited by Alexandra Brzozowski/ Alice Taylor]

Read more with Euractiv