Ukrainian soldiers have published the first video of the combat engagement of the Gepard anti-aircraft self-propelled artillery systems provided by Germany. In the video, the system takes down a russian cruise missile fired at Ukraine, most probably during the December 5 massive missile attack.
Earlier we reported, there was data that it takes an average of six or at most ten rounds to take down a Shahed kamikaze drone, a "cheap substitute" for a cruise missile. As we can see in the video below, it takes a corresponding number of 35mm rounds to shoot an actual cruise missile, too.
Read more: German Gepard SPAAG Actively Downs Russian Missiles and Drones in Ukraine
Also, the same day RFE/RL published an interview with a team operating one of these Ukrainian Gepard systems, and these are a few details to take note of. For starters, a soldier named Oleh confirmed that in his experience, it takes three shots per drone to destroy it.
Then, there is a detail we can see in the video as well: Gepard systems are operated on open terrain. Soldier "Mars" explains the reason: any trees or obstacles would obstruct the operation of Gepard’s own radar which can detect a small target 16 km away, even before it enters the firing range.
Read more: How Much Effective Ukrainian Air Defense Has Become Since the First russian Missile Strike
