Gepard

Record

Conflict relevance

This is the catalogue's single record for this system. It is relevant to the module below; each module's Force Atlas shows how it is used there.

Operators

Ukraine: Refurbished German vehicles delivered from July 2022 and further batches through 2023, with vehicles bought from Jordan by the United States and, in 2026, refurbished Belgian vehicles announced. Repairs in Ukraine with the manufacturer began in 2025. No count recorded.

Battlefield role

Point defence of cities, energy sites and the Odesa grain corridor against one-way attack drones and low-flying cruise missiles: the cheap bottom layer of the air-defence structure, beneath the missile systems whose interceptors it spares.

Strengths

Radar-guided guns that engage a slow drone for the price of a few dozen rounds, on an armoured tracked chassis that moves with what it defends; a documented record against Shahed waves, including multiple kills in single engagements, that made Germany reopen 35 mm ammunition production and consider new-build vehicles.

Limitations

A system out of production for forty years, kept flying by refurbishment and by an ammunition line that had to be restarted in 2023 after the Swiss refused re-export; short range against anything faster than a drone, and no capability against ballistic missiles. Fleet size and serviceability are not published.

Visual identification

A Leopard 1 tank hull with a large turret carrying two long 35 mm barrels on either side, a folding search radar on the turret rear and a tracking radar on the front.

Documented conflict use

In documented Ukrainian service since summer 2022, credited publicly with a large share of drone kills around Odesa and the grain corridor and in the defence of Kyiv's approaches; the German government's itemisation records the deliveries and the ammunition line; manufacturer repair cooperation in Ukraine and the 2025 discussion of joint production are the newest published facts. Numbers delivered and remaining are not reproduced here.