After the collapse of SCAF, the Franco-German defence relationship may face another crisis. This time the problem is MGCS, the future main battle tank programme meant to replace the German Leopard 2 and the French Leclerc around 2040. Rheinmetall chief Armin Papperger does not exclude a French withdrawal from MGCS. He says the danger is still there, although nothing has been decided. The key issue is money. France may be preparing to cut its contribution to less than half of what was initially