schnuersi said:

Most likely Rh wants to show that for a Leopard 3 project by the German military no international colaboration is needed. They are positioning themself should MGCS fail. Which is what it currently looks like. Should Rh manage to actually find customers MGCS will get even more unlikely.

They are doing much more than that, they are actively trying to make MGCS fail, with the help of people who didn't like the merge of KMW and Nexter.

And the announcement of the German government to buy F-35 is a signal that SCAF will probably fail also.

EmericD said:

They are doing much more than that, they are actively trying to make MGCS fail, with the help of people who didn't like the merge of KMW and Nexter.

According to the people at KMW I talked to Nexter and the french MoD are doing a fine job of making it fail by themself.

EmericD said:

And the announcement of the German government to buy F-35 is a signal that SCAF will probably fail also.

My knowledge of aircraft projects is limited but as far as I know F-35 and FCAS are two completly different things. FCAS is supposed to replace the Typhoon. F-35 is replacing Tornado. Which has to be replaced quickly. FCAS is sheduled for the '40s.

In the past multi national programs rarely really succeed. It got worse in the last decades. Even Tiger, one of the most high profile programs, is a hot mess. Most likely its best when the progams are national, maybe with some junior partners, and after they are finished they are sold on the market. This way everybody can decide what fits their needs best.

schnuersi said:

Most likely its best when the progams are national, maybe with some junior partners, and after they are finished they are sold on the market. This way everybody can decide what fits their needs best.

Or just industry. like AW149, which currently is my favourite chopper in that weight class.

gatnerd said:

Rheinmetall just debuted the Panther KF51...

With a .50 Browning coax.  Truly amazing that a WWI machine gun is still used in a 21st century tank.

New KF-51 Panther, A Radically New MBT with 130mm cannon and loitering ammunition - YouTube

stancrist said:

ruly amazing that a WWI machine gun is still used in a 21st century tank

In related news, another Magnum Tank concept was debuted, this with a 140mm cannon:

https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2022/06/14/european-knds-tank-may-get-140mm-ascalon-gun-with-13mj-pressure/

-Nexter 140mm ASCALON cannon 

-The Inevitable M2 .50 as COAX to 140mm

-Nexter ARX30 30x113mm autocannon (Airburst?) on a RWS

-7.62 MG coax with commanders sight

More info on the KF51 and the related Procurement Politics as pertains to the MGCS:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/new-kf51-panther-tank-packs-big-130mm-gun-aimed-at-aging-leopard-2

I seriously doubt that Rheinmetall is using Browning M2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinmetall_RMG.50

Perhaps you're right.  I was going by this illustration at 7:05 in the video I linked.  The coax pictured looks very much like a Browning M2HB.

As discussed yesterday in the tracks vs wheels thread - the rheinmetall cutaway shows an M2, not RMG.