France’s defence minister received his German counterpart on Friday to ink a deal between the two countries to build a next-generation battle tank.

Defence ministers of France and Germany met in Paris this Friday to ratify an agreement on a new joint tank project called the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS).

This formal agreement kick-starts the development of the first phase of the armoured vehicle, dubbed the ‘tank of the future’ – a project worth billions of euros.

The new battle tank is set to replace Germany’s Leopard 2 tank and France’s Leclerc.