The trouble with Gepard is that these don't have unlimited ammunition (these are using custom 35mm ammunition from Switzerland, which has blocked Germany from re-exporting it to Ukraine until recently). Germany is setting up a production line for their own production of this ammunition, but it will take a few weeks more before starting to deliver.
And I remember reading somewhere about Germany sending about 45 Gepards to Ukraine "soon" (TM).. Obviously, shooting down these Shaheds with guns is much cheaper than using rockets.
I think that only Germany uses this unusual ammunition? (if I remember correctly, only Western Germany had the Gepard). So, it's a problem between Germany and Switzerland
Actually it has been adopted by other countries too, on wikipedia more details. The Netherlands and Belgium bought it too. Now the exd-german are being sold around the world.
The "problem" with ammo is just political: Swiss don't want to lose the Russians as customers of their banks...
It's apparent that there's a gap between SHORADS like the Stinger and the Gepard, which can shoot down airplanes and drones up to 3-4 km or so, and the Patriot missiles. Something with a range of 15-20 km, which is much cheaper than a Patriot and can attack something like a Ka-52 before reaching its firing range
Thanks
A reminder for everyone who is going to jump and comment - the original version of this article was published in September 2022.
Thank you Tom!
Спасибо
Even being a re edition is a very valuable reading. Thanks for taking it back, Tom!
Thank you mr. Cooper, very interesting indeed.
What I still cannot understand is why isan't the west sending more Anti Air artillery to Ukriane.
Shooting down cheap UCAVs with much more expensive SAMs is not that smart.
On the contrary sending more Ghepard-like systems might be quite useful and maybe even help the army in the field.
It would be interesting to see how many M163 can be spaed by US Army...
The trouble with Gepard is that these don't have unlimited ammunition (these are using custom 35mm ammunition from Switzerland, which has blocked Germany from re-exporting it to Ukraine until recently). Germany is setting up a production line for their own production of this ammunition, but it will take a few weeks more before starting to deliver.
And I remember reading somewhere about Germany sending about 45 Gepards to Ukraine "soon" (TM).. Obviously, shooting down these Shaheds with guns is much cheaper than using rockets.
True and those 35mm are quite expensive anyway...
Looks like EU is not willing at all to increase weapons and ammo production to suitable level...odd.
I think that only Germany uses this unusual ammunition? (if I remember correctly, only Western Germany had the Gepard). So, it's a problem between Germany and Switzerland
Actually it has been adopted by other countries too, on wikipedia more details. The Netherlands and Belgium bought it too. Now the exd-german are being sold around the world.
The "problem" with ammo is just political: Swiss don't want to lose the Russians as customers of their banks...
It's apparent that there's a gap between SHORADS like the Stinger and the Gepard, which can shoot down airplanes and drones up to 3-4 km or so, and the Patriot missiles. Something with a range of 15-20 km, which is much cheaper than a Patriot and can attack something like a Ka-52 before reaching its firing range