Germany/France- 'Leopard 3' future tank development

Germany and France are considering cooperation on developing a successor to the tank "Leopard 2."

The German Defense Ministry announced its plans for the "Leo 3" in a report on Friday to the Bundestag, which was obtained by multiple media outlets.

The manufacturer of the current Leopard 2, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, is scheduled to fuse with French firm Nexter Systems in the course of this year. This has prompted media reports in Germany saying that the new Franco-German firm, with more than 6,000 staff and a combined turnover of around 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion), could be a strong candidate to win the contract to develop a new battle tank for the German Bundeswehr.