Germany plans to send the first Gepard anti-aircraft self-propelled guns to Ukraine in July 2022.

This was announced by German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht to her Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov, BILD reports.

It’s about a batch of 15 units from the reserves of the German defense industry.

According to DW, the aid package includes about 60,000 shells.

Previously, the German government reported a problem with the search for ammunition. Switzerland refused to supply shells, appealing to its neutrality. Brazil’s readiness to sell 300,000 rounds of ammunition was reported.

In an interview with German media, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba criticized Germany’s approach to organizing military assistance to Ukraine on the case of the Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns:

“At first they said that they will provide them (Gepard guns). Then they say you get them if you have shells, because we don’t have any. Then you will have to request other countries for ammunition, although for various reasons it is doubtful that these countries will provide them. We first agree on what we did not ask for, and then we realize that the system cannot work at all, some questions arise.”

Gepard is a 35 mm anti-aircraft self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, it is based on the chassis of the Leopard 1 main battle tank, created by Kraus-Maffei in the 1970s.

The turret of the gun has two Oerlikon KDA guns with a rate of 550 rounds per minute. Effective target range – 5500 meters. Gepard’s ammunition load consists of 640 armor-piercing-incendiary rounds and 40 armor-piercing rounds against ground targets.

Gepard has two radars – a surveillance radar to detect targets (effective range – 15 km) and tracking to guide the selected target. The gun also has a laser rangefinder.
The fire control system allows you to choose the optimal mode, depending on the type of target. The fire control system selects the number of shells needed to hit the target.

The nomenclature of 35 × 228 mm ammunition includes shells for air and ground targets, as well as sub-caliber and remote detonation.