Germany is short of ammunition to ‘pump’ for Ukraine?

04/05/2022 06:19 GMT+7

It is worth noting that these cannons were taken out of service by the German army more than 20 years ago and kept by the military equipment manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. According to sources, it turned out that Germany simply did not have enough shells for these anti-aircraft weapons.

Recently, on April 28, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann proposed the delivery of 50 Gepard 1A2 anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine, and the German Parliament and Minister of Defense approved this act of goodwill.

Military Review said that the thing is that this self-propelled gun is equipped with two Oerlikon GDF 35 mm automatic cannons, they are designed for 35×228 mm ammunition, but are manufactured in Switzerland. And it recently refused to supply any weapons and ammunition to the great powers whose territories are in military conflict.

Germany is ready to transfer 50 self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery systems Gepard to Ukraine. (Photo: AP)

“Germany began to look elsewhere for this ammunition, it seems that Berlin has reached an agreement with Brazil to supply 300,000 rounds of ammunition for the Oerlikon GDF artillery. In addition, negotiations are underway with Qatar and Jordan about another 150,000 shells,” Military Review said.

The Gepard 1A2 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun has always been considered one of the most complex vehicles in the German Armed Forces. Preparing their operators takes several months, and this is training for German troops who are used to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) technology, not Ukrainian soldiers. first time seeing these machines.

According to military experts, this self-propelled anti-aircraft gun is outdated and with an unprepared crew, it will be completely useless.

It is known that the Gepard 1A2 has a range of up to 5 km, a firing height of up to 4 thousand meters, while the radar station is capable of detecting targets at a distance of up to 18 km. It is worth noting that this combat device is not capable of dealing with modern threats from the air and has therefore been removed from service.

The Flakpanzer Gepard anti-aircraft gun uses the Leopard 1 main tank chassis, developed in the 1960s and commissioned in the 1970s. The German army rejected this model in 2010 to switch to the armored personnel carrier variant. Wiesel mounted anti-aircraft missile FIM-92 Stinger or LFK NG.

The Gepard complex is equipped with two Oerlikon GDF 35 mm automatic cannons, each with 320 anti-aircraft rounds and 20 anti-tank rounds, and two clusters of four 76 mm smoke grenade launchers. The cannon has a crew of three, can move at a maximum speed of 65 km/h, and has a range of 550 km.

Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was criticized for refusing to directly transfer heavy weapons to Ukraine. Scholz said that the German army’s stockpile was too exhausted to send any heavy weapons such as tanks and howitzers. However, the German chancellor pledged to provide anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, describing them as “defensive weapons”.

Peace (translation summary)