The United States buys Gepard air defense systems from Jordan for Ukraine

The US Army has reportedly awarded a contract to Global Military Products of Tampa, Florida, for $118 million to supply the German-made Gepard mobile air defense system to Ukraine.

The Gibbard system in question belongs to the Jordanian Army, which it purchased from former Dutch military units a decade ago, with a total of 60 units, including 350,000 35mm rounds and spare parts.

According to media reports, the purchase of Gibbard was funded by the United States through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which was established before the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This security assistance mechanism is specifically intended to assist in obtaining weapons and other equipment, along with training and other support services, on behalf of Ukraine.

It is not clear how many Gebbard systems have been purchased for Ukraine or when they will arrive in the country.

The contract notice did not explicitly say where Gibbard came from, but did say that the work would be performed in Amman, Jordan, with an estimated completion date of May 30, 2024.

Earlier in July 2022, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov confirmed that his country had received its first three short-range Gepard air defense systems from Germany along with 60,000 rounds of ammunition.

And the German government announced that it plans to send two batches of at least 30 military vehicles of the Gibbard model for air defense to help the country in the face of the Russian invasion.

Regarding the Gepard, the SPAAG (Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun) all-weather air defense system was developed in the late 1960s by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) which was known as the Flakpanzer Gepard.

The Gibbard is based on the chassis of the “Leopard 1” main battle tank, and it is equipped with two 35 mm Oerlikon Contraves cannons installed on the left and right sides of the turret.

Each gun is loaded with 320 anti-aircraft and 20 armor-piercing rounds. The maximum firing range of the cannon is 5,500 meters with FAPDS ammunition.

As an anti-aircraft combat system, the Gibard is equipped with two radars including a Doppler pulse search radar located at the rear of the turret roof and a tracking radar installed at the front of the turret.

The search radar operates in the E / F band and has a range of 15 km. The NATO E band is the designation given for radio frequencies from 2000 to 3000 MHz while F refers to radio frequencies from 3000 to 4000 MHz.

The search radar rotates at 60 rpm and provides continuous airspace monitoring with IFF (identify friend or foe) capability.

The Gibbard is designed to engage combat aircraft, attack helicopters, transport aircraft, missiles and drones.