German officials said that Berlin is considering sending additional Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine.
The plan was announced by the head of the Ukraine Situation Center of the German Defense Ministry, Brigadier General Christian Freuding, in the June 25 edition of the newspaper Die Welt in comments seen in advance by dpa.
According to the report, Germany intends to provide Ukraine with 45 more Gepard systems by the end of the year in its defensive struggle against Russia.
A total of 34 Gepards have been delivered, and 15 more would be added in the coming weeks. “In addition, we want to deliver up to another 30 Gepard tanks towards the end of the year in cooperation with the US,” Freuding said.
The Gepard vehicle is a self-propelled anti-aircraft system made by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. It is designed to defend against modern combat aircraft, attack helicopters, remote-controlled missiles and rockets. It can also dependably combat drones. The ballistic projectiles cannot be destroyed by electronic defense measures and the clouds of shrapnel they generate will reliably destroy the target.
KMW has mass-produced 570 systems of this type as general contractor and has also been the main contractor for the technical and logistical support for the system since it went into use. Gepards have been supplied to Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Romania.