Germany to announce supply of Gepard anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine

The German government is planning to start supplying FlakPz Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine from its industrial stocks.

The information was provided by the German news magazine Spiegel.

According to the magazine, German Federal Minister of Defense, Christine Lambrecht, will announce on Tuesday during a conference on the situation around Ukraine at the Ramstein airbase that Germany considers allowing the supply of Gepard anti-aircraft self-propelled guns.

This is a German anti-aircraft self-propelled gun based on the “Leopard” tank chassis.

In addition, Germany will reportedly train the Ukrainian Armed Forces for operating the Panzerhaubitze 2000 artillery system, which the Netherlands intends to supply to Ukraine.

“With these two announcements, Lambrecht seeks to try to soften Germany's sharp criticism of arms transfers, as the federal government has been criticized for indecisiveness over the weeks,” Spiegel wrote.

Gepard is the German anti-aircraft self-propelled gun designed to cover ground forces, destroy air targets at distances from 100 metres to 4 kilometers and at altitudes up to 3 kilometers and flying at the speed of up to 350-400 metres per second. The equipment is also able to hit ground (surface) targets at ranges up to 4,500 metres.

Gepard is built on a chassis similar to that of the Leopard tank, but with a thinner armor. It is equipped with two 35 mm cannons churning out 550 shots per minute, a 7.62 mm MG-3 machine gun, and two radars. Its ammunition consists of 310 unitary shells, including 20 armor-piercing sub-calibers.