Germany confirms delivery to Ukraine of 20 Gepard anti-aircraft vehicles and 16 BIBER bridgelayers.

According to information by the German Ministry of Defense on September 7, 2022, Germany confirms the delivery to Ukraine of 20 Gepard 35mm self-propelled anti-aircraft tracked armored vehicles and 16 BIBER engineer bridgelayer based on a modified Leopard 1 main battle tank chassis.
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German Gepard 35mm self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system. (Picture source army Recognition)

The German Federal Government supports the Ukrainian military in close coordination with its partners and allies. On September 7, 2022, Germany published a list of lethal and non-lethal military equipment and combat vehicles that will be delivered to the Ukrainian armed forces. It includes deliveries from the German Armed Forces, as well as supplies from German industry financed from the Federal Government’s funds for so-called security capacity building.

Under the 2022 budget process, the funds for the security capacity building initiative were increased to a total of 2 billion euros for the year 2022. The additional funds are to be used primarily to support Ukraine. At the same time, they will be used to finance Germany’s increased mandatory contributions to the European Peace Facility (EPF), which in turn goes towards reimbursing EU member states for costs incurred to them in providing support for Ukraine.

The total value of individual licenses issued by the German Government for the export of military goods in the period from January 1, 2022, to September 5, 2022 amounts to 733.623.190 EUR. The total license value includes the goods listed above insofar as their export is subject to licensing requirements under German foreign trade laws. This is not the case for all of the goods listed above.

In order to speed up the processing of certain deliveries, the German Government has also eased certain licensing processes, e.g. with regard to military protective goods. These deliveries are also not included in the total license value. The values stated for used material from the German Armed Forces are also based on current values which can be significantly lower than the corresponding values for new or replacement goods. The total license value includes the goods regardless of how their procurement and delivery were financed. For security reasons, the Federal Government does not provide further details until the goods have been delivered.

The Gepard is a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system that entered into service with the German army in 1970. Today it is no longer currently in service with the German army but is still used by other countries.

The Gepard is fitted with a two-man turret armed with two Oerlikon Contraves 35 mm KDA cannons which have a cyclic rate of fire of 550 rds/min. The cannons have a maximum firing range of 5,500 m with FAPDS ammunition.

The Gepard is fitted with two radars including a pulse Doppler search radar located at the rear of the turret roof and a tracking radar mounted at the front of the turret. In the travel position, the search radar is lowered to the rear of the turret. The search radar operates in the E/F bands and has a range of 15 km.

The BIBER is a bridgelayer vehicle based on the tracked armored chassis of the Leopard 1 Main Battle Tank. The top of the vehicle is fitted with a bridge consisting of two 11 m sections. The bridge has a length of 22 m and can span a gap of 20 m.

BIBER bridgelayer engineer vehicle based on tracked armored chassis of Leopard 1 tank. (Picture source Wikimedia)