The European defense sector is taking a significant step forward with the launch of the MARTE (Main ARmoured Tank of Europe) project. It is an innovative and promising initiative that aims to strengthen Europe’s technological autonomy by addressing the key advantage of a main battle tank system.
This project is coordinated and managed by MARTE ARGE, a joint venture of KNDS Germany and Rheinmetall Landsysteme. MARTE is intended to bring together complementary industrial partners, including leading large companies as well as medium-sized companies, research institutes and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The ambitious proposal, which was submitted to the European Commission, was supported with a grant from the European Defense Fund of around 20 million euros.
In addition to the funds granted by the European Commission, the MARTE consortium receives support from a total of eleven ministries of defense as potential future customers. Under the leadership of the German Ministry of Defense, the defense ministries of the member states Belgium, Spain, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and Sweden as well as the non-member state Norway are contributing. “At a time of increasing geopolitical uncertainty, this initiative expresses the desire for greater strategic autonomy in defense and security matters and thus represents a strategic investment in European defense capabilities,” says Rheinmetall.
The declared aim of MARTE is to produce studies and designs for a future main battle tank system that meets current and future threats and the needs of the European member states involved. By integrating innovative technologies, a resilient defense system is to be developed that is tailored to the evolving challenges of modern warfare and takes into account the lessons learned from current conflicts.
In order to achieve this ambitious goal, a consortium of 51 legal entities from twelve European countries (eleven member states plus Norway) has agreed to contribute their respective expertise and experience in the best possible way. In its role as coordinator, MARTE ARGE is responsible for project coordination and is managing the project with the support of the consultancy firm Erdyn and a core team of five high-ranking defense companies: KNDS Germany and Rheinmetall Landsysteme (both Germany), Leonardo (Italy), Indra Sistemas (Spain) and Saab (Sweden).
Based on their expertise in the field of battle tanks, each of them leads one of the five technical work packages in which the project scope has been bundled – with all other companies (see below) contributing their relevant expertise.
The MARTE project was officially launched with the signing of the grant agreement by the MARTE consortium and the European Commission on December 1 last year.
Here for more news from KNDS and here to further reports about Rheinmetall.
