The Ukrainian army is having a big problem with the Gepard anti-aircraft guns that Germany has handed over as the guns are not able to fire the Norwegian-made 35mm ammunition!
Countless troubles surrounds the German-supplied Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery guns supplied by Germany to the Ukrainian Army. Specifically, first after delaying the handover of these guns and now when preparing for combat use, these guns are short on ammunition.
Recently, Kyiv complained a lot about the quality of the German-supplied self-propelled Howitzer, the Pzh2000, that problem was not fixed until now, now another German weapon has also encountered a major problem!
Ukraine has received Norwegian-made anti-aircraft cannon ammunition for use on German Gepard SPAAG cannons. This ammunition was supplied because Berlin does not have sufficient 35mm anti-aircraft rounds available for these self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery gun systems.
The German Ministry of Defense also holds talks with countries that have previously purchased this weapon system, such as Brazil and Qatar, for supply of sufficient amount of ammunition to Ukraine. But then Norway said that they can supply the ammunition to Ukraine.
Now the problem is that, it recently turned out that the Norwegian 35mm anti-aircraft rounds delivered to Ukraine is not being recognized by the fire control system software on the Gepard anti-aircraft guns and therefore the guns could not fire them.
According to some sources, the tests for the new ammunition can only take place in August, after updating the fire control system software on these anti-aircraft guns.
However, this could be a very serious problem for the defence capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, especially when the war is now entering in its tense phase.
Currently, the Ukrainian Forces cannot use the Norwegian-made 35mm ammunition, if the new weapon configuration is successful in August, Ukraine will have to return the German-supplied Gepard anti-aircraft systems to Germany for the urgent software modifications, while it is not known that when the newly updated anti-aircraft systems will be delivered again.
It should be known, that the Flugabwehrkanonenpanzer Gepard all-weather-capable self-propelled anti-aircraft guns are excellent in destroying almost all types of low-altitude aerial threats on the battlefield.
The Gepard anti-aircraft gun is designed and developed on the chassis of the Leopard 1 MBT and is equipped with two 35 mm Oerlikon GDF autocannons, each with 320 rounds anti-air ammunition and 20 rounds of anti-tank ammunition.
The Gepard has a good fire control radar and a search radar system, which is designed to conduct ground protection at very close distances and altitudes. On the side of the turret is a cluster of four 76mm smoke grenade dischargers.
This anti-aircraft system has been modernized many times, and is operated by many countries such as Jordan, Romania, etc. This warmachine is powered by 10-cylinder, 37,400 cc MTU multi-fuel engine which delivers the top speed of 65 km/h (40 mph) and operational range of 550 km (340 mi). The vehicle is operated by the crew of 3 (driver, gunner, commander).