Urainian media has released a video of a Gepard Self Propelled Anti-aircraft Gun (SPAAG) shooting down a Russian cruise missile close to Ukrainian infrastructure targets.
Reports claim that is the first ever recorded shooting down of a cruise missile with the Gepard SPAAG, a weapon designed to provide close-in air defense against low-flying projeciles such as UAVs, helicopters and short range missiles.
The date of the latest cruise misile shooting is not known. However, In early November, the Ukrainian military reported that a Gepard SPAAG had destroyed two Russian cruise missiles and a double-digit number of drones.
Gepard is capable of striking aerial targets at distances from 100 m up to 4 km at altitudes up to 3 km, flying at a speed of up to 350-400 m/s, as well as ground (surface) targets at a range of up to 4,500 meters.
Two 35mm Oerlikon KDA automatic guns and two radars that determine the target at a distance of up to 15 km, are installed on the turret, which is capable of making a 360 degrees turn.
These guns are belt-fed. The maximum rate of fire for a single gun is 550 rounds per minute. Ammunition load of the Gepard consists of 640 armor-piercing-incendiary rounds for firing against air targets and 40 armor-piercing rounds against ground targets.
The German system has an automated fire control system. It takes into account atmospheric pressure, air temperature and humidity, as well as wind speed and direction to achieve fairly accurate shooting.
Currently, 30 such anti-aircraft self-propelled guns have been transferred to Ukraine by Germany.
General search radar is located at the rear of the turret roof and tracking radar is located between the guns. Vehicle is fitted with friend-or-foe identification system. Radar of the provides all-round scanning with simultaneous target tracking. Vehicle has search on the move capability.