Army to acquire radar-equipped air-defense guns for Ukraine to repel attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles
NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Army air-defense experts needed mobile air-defense guns to help protect warfighters and military equipment from air attacks. They found their solution from weapons distributor Global Military Products Inc. in Tampa, Fla.
Officials of the Army Contracting Command-New Jersey in Newark, N.J., announced a $118.4 million contract to Global Military Products late last month for Gepard 35-millimeter air defense systems.
The Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG), manfactured by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) in Munich, is based on the chassis of the German Leopard 1 main battle tank. It has twin Oerlikon GDF 35-millimeter belt-fed guns that fire 550 rounds per minute.
The system carries 640 armor-piercing-incendiary rounds for use against air targets and 40 armor-piercing rounds for use against ground targets. These systems most likely are for the Ukraine armed forces in their war against Russia, where the systems reportedly have proven effective against unmanned aircraft.
The air-defense system has a general-search radar at the rear of its turret roof and tracking radar between the guns. It has an identification friend-or-foe (IFF) system.
The air-defense vehicle's radar of the Gepard has a range of 9.3 miles, and provides all-round scanning with simultaneous target tracking, with search-on-the-move capability.
On this contract Global Military Products should be finished by May 2024. For more information contact Global Military Products online at www.globalmilitaryproducts.com, or the Army Contracting Command-New Jersey at https://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-nj/.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
