France and Germany pledge to develop a European rival to Palantir

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BERLIN — France and Germany pledged Friday to look at developing an alternative to military software provided by U.S. company Palantir, as European countries seek to lessen reliance on America.

France’s domestic intelligence service announced in June it was ending its contract with the U.S. surveillance giant while Germany’s spy agency also picked French alternative ChapsVision over Palantir.

“To foster data sovereignty, France and Germany will examine the development of a European sovereign digital backbone, taking into consideration data-centric security, artificial intelligence and cloud solutions from both countries,” the two countries said in a joint declaration Friday after talks between Friedrich Merz and Emmanuel Macron.

It named France’s Arcadia as an example, as well as “comparable German solutions.”

The French armed forces has been keen to pitch its AI-powered military command-and-control platform Arcadia as an alternative to Palantir’s Maven software, which is also used by NATO. A top alliance commander recently told POLITICO there was no real European alternative.

Friday’s declaration does not mention FCAS, the troubled Franco-German-Spanish project to develop a next-generation fighter jet. Instead, France and Germany said they would create a “European collaborative combat standard” so fighter jets, combat drones and other aircraft developed by different countries can communicate and fight together.

On MGCS, the Franco-German project intended to eventually replace Germany’s Leopard 2 and France’s Leclerc tanks with a network of crewed and uncrewed combat vehicles, the two governments agreed to launch a research program. That will look at autonomous driving, sensors and battlefield networking, with the initial aim of reaching a “proof-of-concept” stage.

France and Germany will also work with Britain to examine cooperation on long-range missiles. The declaration highlights technology that could give weapons a range of 2,500 kilometers and says the three countries will examine capabilities available at Franco-German company ArianeGroup.

In space, the two governments promised closer cooperation on reconnaissance satellites and greater use of European rockets, including Ariane 6, to launch military equipment.

France and Germany also repeated their support for a stock-market listing of tank-maker KNDS, provided market conditions are right and both governments agree.