First three German Gepard artillery systems arrive in Ukraine

This is reported by Military Television of Ukraine.

They note that these artillery installations are among the best in their class.

"Targets are hit at a distance of 100 meters to 4 km. The crew consists of only 3 people: a driver, a commander and a gunner. These complexes will cover important infrastructure objects from attacks by rotorcraft and aircraft at low and ultra-low altitudes," the military said.

Gepard began to be developed in the 60s. For a long time, the anti-aircraft installation was an extremely important element of the air defense of the armies of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.  But in the 2000s, it was abandoned. Now it is used in other countries of the world.

The installation is based on the chassis of the Leopard 1 tank. The turret, capable of making a full turn, is equipped with two 35 mm Oerlikon KDA guns and two radars that determine the target at a distance of up to 15 km. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have one A2 modification, a digital computer is installed that can receive data from other radars, in fact, see a target outside its zone.

The main ammunition is 320 shells for hitting air targets. There are also 20 shells for ground targets in the store. The rate of fire of each gun is 550 shots per minute, that is, together, 1100 shots are fired at the target.

Gepard is able to work in conditions of intensive radio-electronic countermeasures of the enemy.

Earlier it was reported that a total of 30 Gepard units were to be transferred to Ukraine. At least 100 servicemen of the Ukrainian army were trained in Germany to operate these self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.