The long-promised German anti-aircraft gun “Cheetah” is already in Ukraine, the first footage has appeared online
Anti-aircraft armored fighting vehicle Pantherbetter known as Flakpanzer Gepard, arrived in Ukraine a few weeks ago. But the first real footage was released only recently.
FLAK-Panzer-Gepard during a target shooting exercise in Hohwacht Bay, Germany. Image credit: Derwatz qua WikipediaGFDL . License
InformNapalm OSINT . Volunteer Journalists Community Initiative published a video from the Ukrainian frontline shows Panther (Flakpanzer Gepard) A self-propelled anti-aircraft gun with a twin cannon system is testing its basic mechanical functions. There is no confirmation to date of use Gepards in real battles.
According to the available official data, Ukraine has received 15 cars of this type so far.
The main purpose of these short-range air defense systems is to defend against aircraft of the invading Russian forces or missiles flying at low altitudes.
The first German model Cheetah / Gepard was developed in the 1960s, but since then it has been upgraded several times. Nearly all upgrades are mainly focused on integrating the latest avionics.
The Gepard equipped with a 3.8-litre multi-fuel engine producing 66 kW (90 PS). Fuel capacity is 985 liters, enough for a combined operating time of about 48 hours. Frames and tracks are taken directly from Leopard 1.
The Gepard There are two radar discs: one is used for the search function and the second is for tracking the target. A laser rangefinder is mounted in the front center of the twin guns Oerlikon GDF. The main gun is also known as the Oerlikon 35 mm dual automatic cannon, and it also exists in a modified version of the towed anti-aircraft gun.
The gun was 90 caliber, 3.15 m (10 ft 4 in) long. The muzzle velocity, or speed of a bullet leaving the barrel, is 1,440 m/s (4,700 ft/s). This air defense platform uses the Frangible Armor Discarding Sabot (FAPDS) ammunition, with an effective range of 5.5 km (3.4 mi).
Automatic cannons are usually loaded with a mixture of 320 anti-aircraft rounds and 20 armor-piercing rounds for each gun. The combined rate of fire is 1,100 rounds/min, providing a continuous fire time of 37 seconds before running out of ammunition (with 680 rounds for both guns).
In its homeland, Gepard was phased out at the end of 2010 and replaced by Wiesel 2 Ozelot with four FIM-92 Stinger or LFK LANGUAGE rocket launcher. However, in its latest revision, Gepard is still a very strong air defense platform and it has been the basis of the air defense forces of the German Army and a number of other NATO countries.
Germany has committed to provide 30 Gepards in total to Ukraine, including 53,000 rounds of ammunition. For 30 twin-barreled anti-aircraft guns, this number is not much, but hopefully in the future more ammunition will be delivered to Ukraine.
According to a Deutsche Welle article referring to a government spokesman, Germany is planning to supply 500 million euros in weapons by 2023. Ukraine should also receive mid-infrared mid-range air-to-air missiles. . IRIS-TILLION with three dedicated launchers, a dozen armored recovery vehicles, 20 pickup-mounted rocket launchers, precision ammunition and anti-drone equipment.
However, the complete military aid package still has to be approved by the Federal Government.
