Germany to deliver 30 Gepard 35mm anti-aircraft gun system vehicles to Ukraine.

According to information published by the German Newspaper "WELT" on July 26, 2022, German Minister of Defense, Christine Lambrecht, Germany plans to deliver to Ukraine 30 Gepard 35mm self-propelled anti-aircraft tracked armored vehicles and 60,000 rounds of ammunition, both coming from German army stocks.
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German army Gepard 35mm self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system. (Picture source KMW)

On July 25, 2022, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Rezniko announced that the Ukrainian army has received the first batch of three Gepard anti-aircraft gun systems from Germany.

In April 2022, Germany approved the donation of Gepard's 35mm self-propelled anti-aircraft mobile gun systems to Ukraine. During a meeting on April 26, 2022, held at the United States Ramstein Air Base in Germany, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht confirmed that Germany was ready to provide Gepard air defense armored vehicles to Ukraine.

The Gepard is a mobile anti-aircraft gun system that is based on a Leopard 1 tank tracked armored chassis that entered into service with the German army in 1976. It is no longer in military service with the German army but continues to be used by other countries around the world. The German army would still have an undisclosed number of Gepard air defense vehicles that have been stored since retirement from active service.

The Gepard is fitted a turret mounted on the hull of a Leopard 1 tank tracked chassis which is armed with two Oerlikon Contraves 35-mm KDA cannon. These have a cyclic fire rate of 550 rounds, per barrel, per minute, with an effective air defense range of about 3,500 m and more than 4,500 m with FAPDS (Frangible Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot) ammunition.

The Gepard has a crew of three including a driver, a commander, and a gunner. The turret with the two 35mm cannons has a traverse of 360° with an elevation from -10° to +85°.

The Gepard is equipped with an S-band search radar at the rear of the turret and a Ku-band Doppler tracking radar fitted at the front of the turret which are able to detect and track aerial targets at a maximum range of 15 km.

Using the tracked chassis of the Leopard 1 tank, the Gepard has excellent mobility capabilities in all-terrain conditions. It can run at a maximum road speed of 65 km/h with a maximum cruising range of 550 km.