France, Germany to move ahead with joint tank project - French Defence Minister

French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius said on Friday their countries were ready to move ahead with a project to jointly develop a new tank, meant to become the central pillar of both country's ground defence.

Pistorius said the goal is to have contracts for the new Franco-German tank by the end of the year, while Lecornu said companies such as KNDS, Rheinmetall and Thales were likely to contribute to the future tank.