Berlin, May 22 (IANS): Germany and France are preparing to jointly develop new main battle tanks to replace the Leopard 2 tanks by around 2030, media reported on Friday.

In a letter sent to Bundestag, the lower house of German parliament, the federal defence ministry said joint studies would start this year and last until 2018. The new tank would be built based on "technologies and concepts in joint studies with involvement of German industry", Xinhua news agency reported citing German magazine Spiegel.

Markus Gruebel, state secretary of the defence ministry, said in the letter that the new tanks were necessary as the life of Leopard 2 tanks, the current main battle tank of German army, would end around 2030.

Leopard 2 was developed by German arms manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann in early 1970s and entered service in 1979.

The plan comes as Germany tries to increase its military forces following the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine.

In April, the defence ministry announced the procurement of about 100 additional Leopard 2 tanks and increase in the total number of the main battle tanks in service from 225 to 328.

According to the ministry, the decision was made in order to adapt to "the changed security situation".