Ukraine's Gepard anti-aircraft guns are old but not weak

Romania's Gepard in 2021. Photo: US Army.

The Gepard is still considered the best self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery system in the world . A Gepard commander asserted that the Ku-band guidance radar has a range of 9 miles, along with the S-band search radar, allowing the system to lock its sights on even birds.

But the Gepard system is not new. The German tank manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann delivered 570 units in 1976, and the last one was delivered in 1980. None of the Gepards are less than 43 years old. So the condition of the materials on these systems is all the more important.

Therefore, the transfer of some of the best preserved Gepard systems – most likely from Germany – is good news for Ukraine: 15 Gepards that were used by the Qatari military (in use for a short time since 2018) will be sent to Ukraine.

In April 2022, just two months after the Russian special operation began, Germany pledged to deliver 52 refurbished Gepard systems from German military stocks. Fourteen months later, in June 2023, Germany pledged to deliver 15 more. The United States also announced that it would buy 30 Gepards from an unnamed country (later revealed to be Jordan) and would also deliver them to Ukraine.

Somewhere in the German shipment are the Gepard 1A2s that Qatar bought in 2018 to protect its airspace during the World Cup. Some reports in February said Berlin had been in talks with Doha to buy 15 Flakpanzers.

In July, a Qatari Gepard in distinctive camouflage was filmed in a video by Oleksiy Makeyev, Ukraine’s ambassador to Berlin. The video was filmed at the Putlos military training ground in Germany. On Friday, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry released a video featuring the Gepard.

“The condition of these Gepards is extremely good. It's like they just came off the assembly line,” the former Gepard commander shared.

The condition of these systems is important. The reason behind Belgium not negotiating on behalf of Ukraine to buy back the 55 Gepards it once operated may be that the Flakpanzers have received little upgrade and maintenance since Belgium retired them in 2006.

Equally important is ammunition. Until recently, Switzerland had a monopoly on the production of ammunition for the Gepard’s 35mm automatic guns. In order to maintain its neutral position, the Swiss government refused to sell arms to Ukraine. Therefore, the German government funded Rheinmetall to open a new ammunition production line for Ukraine.

Nguyen Quang Minh (according to Forbes)

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/phao-phong-khong-gepard-cua-ukraine-tuy-gia-nhung-khong-yeu-a626042.html