Germany has signed contracts with Rheinmetall to restart the production of ammunition for the Flakpanzer Gepard anti-aircraft guns it has delivered to Ukraine, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on 14 February, Reuters reports.
“We will quickly start our own production of Gepard ammunition at Rheinmetall. I am very happy we have been able to guarantee the delivery of this important part of air defense,” Pistorius said before a meeting with NATO ministers in Brussels.
The Gepard is a German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun first developed in the 1960s that was in service with several NATO countries until recently and saw several upgrades of its electronics throughout the years. The German military decommissioned the system in 2010 to replace it with newer air defense equipment.
Months after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Germany started supplying its Gepard to Kyiv, which later prompted the issue of replenishment of the gun’s munitions as Switzerland banned supplies of its munitions for the Gepard to Ukraine.
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- Germany’s Marder IFV delivery to include Gepard anti-aircraft tanks – Spiegel
- Germany supplies another 4 Gepard units, 65 refrigerators to Ukraine – German’s Federal Government
- Germany supplied 12 Gepard self-propelled air defense systems to Ukraine
- Ukrainian military started training to use self-propelled anti-aircraft guns Gepard at German training grounds – RND (July 2022)
