Ukraine Solved the Hardest Math Problem in Air-Defense—with a 1970s German Gun Vehicle
The Gepard is one of Ukraine's best defenses against swarms of Russian Shahed drones
An anti-aircraft vehicle from the Cold War is enjoying a dramatic second career in Ukraine—as a top killer of Russia’s Shaheds.
As the barrages of Shahed drones get bigger, more frequent and more destructive in Ukraine, it’s becoming clear which Ukrainian-operated weapons work best against the 200-kg drones, each hauling a 90-kg warhead thousands of km under satellite guidance.
German-made Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, or SPAAGs—each armed with a pair of radar-cued 35-mm Oerlikon autocannons—are some of the most efficient defenses against the Shaheds. “Automated 35-mm gun systems produce dense projectile clouds,” pointed out a Ukrainian air-defense developer who goes by their nom de guerre “Alchemist.”
Ukraine’s scores of Gepards, along with a much smaller number of more modern Skynex guns, “provide critical mid-range defense” against the devastating Shahed raids, swatting down the drones from a few kilometers away. “A German Gepard with twin 35-mm Oerlikon cannons once shot down multiple drones with a single burst,” Alchemist recalled.