The German federal government also finally agreed to allow the shipment of heavy weapons to Ukraine.
According to Ukrinform with reference to the Twitter account of the German Ministry of Defense, it is about the Gepard tank.
"Germany will hand over the Gepard anti-aircraft tank," the statement said.
This was announced by Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht during a meeting of the military departments of partner countries on aid to Ukraine, held at Ramstein Air Base in western Germany.
In addition, it is known that the Ukrainian army will study in Germany with the Panzerhaubitze 2000 system, which the Netherlands wants to provide to the Ukrainian army.
The German government has recently been the target of strong criticism from political forces, even in the ruling coalition, and public figures, part of society, for being hesitant to give Kyiv the heavy weapons it needs to fight Russian aggressors. Berlin is trying to avoid supply constraints, but is willing to hand over heavy weapons to other NATO countries if they return their Soviet-style equipment.
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There has been talk for several days about a possible supply of the Gepard system. The KraussMaffei Wegmann factory announced back in February that they still had about 50 in their own arsenal, which could be handed over to the Armed Forces after minor repairs.
The Gepard tank is armed with two 35-mm guns and a radar. In addition to air attackers, they can also hit ground targets.
The decision to transfer the Marder armored vehicles to Ukraine will also be discussed in the coming days.
Germany intends to provide Ukraine with a self-propelled anti-aircraft unit "Cheetah". This was announced by German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht on Tuesday, April 26, ahead of a meeting of defense ministers from nearly 40 countries, which took place that day at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany at the invitation of Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin, Reuters reports. . According to Lambrecht, the decision regarding the "Cheetah" was made by the German government the day before, DW said.
Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin opened a meeting of foreign ministers at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany on Tuesday morning, April 26. According to the head of the German Defense Ministry, a "circular exchange" has been initiated with partners in Eastern Europe for Ukraine to immediately receive heavy weapons that do not require long-term training. "They gave the Soviet-made equipment to Ukraine, and we filled the gap," he was quoted as saying by AFP. In addition, Germany plans to make more efforts to train the Ukrainian military.
Earlier in the day, news agencies dpa and Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the German government plans to supply Ukraine with Cheetah anti-aircraft guns from industrial stockpiles. According to these data, the manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) received the "green light" to be able to export a modernized "Cheetah" from the former Bundeswehr reserve. According to Reuters, the Cheetah can hit aerial targets with its two 35-millimeter weapons: airplanes, helicopters, drones or missiles at a range of up to six kilometers. Cheetahs have been produced since the early 1970s and have been exported to the Netherlands and Belgium, among others. Among NATO countries, the Cheetah is still used in Romania.
Germany has promised to deliver up to 50 self-propelled "Cheetah" anti-aircraft units based on the Leopard tank to Ukraine. However, as Bild knows, the country has very few bullets for its fast-fired weapons, writes Liga.net.
There are only 23,000 rounds of ammunition for the Cheetah's two main guns in the warehouses of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, an anti-aircraft manufacturer.
Given that together they make about 1,100 shots per minute, the total ammunition available in Germany will only be enough for 20 minutes of basic weapon use.
The Ministry of Defense and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann have been searching for additional ammunition for Cheetahs around the world since Tuesday. They may be in Jordan, Romania, Brazil and Qatar, where these machines are operated.
In addition, according to BILD, technical training of anti-aircraft tanks and gunner training will take at least six weeks. Thus, their supply to Ukraine is expected no earlier than June.
The self-propelled anti-aircraft unit FlakPz Gepard is designed to cover ground forces, destroying aerial targets at an inclined distance from 100 m to 4 km and at an altitude of up to 3 km, flying at speeds up to 350-400 m / s, as well as ground targets ( surface) at a range of up to 4500 m. Based on a chassis similar to the Leopard tank chassis, but the hull has thinner armor. It is equipped with two 35-mm cannons with 550 rounds per minute, a 7.62-mm MG-3 machine gun and two radars. Ammunition - 310 unitary rounds, including 20 armor-piercing sub-caliber.
In February 2022, German arms company KraussMaffei Wegmann (KMW) announced that it had about 50 Cheetahs in its arsenal which could be moved to Ukraine after minor repairs.