Belgium will buy 15 older Gepard air defense systems on a tank chassis and provide them to Ukraine. It will be a military aid package worth one billion euros approved earlier this month, Belgian officials confirmed. TASR writes about it according to the Belga agency and the Army Recognition Group portal. As L’Écho reported on Wednesday, Belgium will acquire Gepardy from OIP Land Systems. They come from the stocks of the Belgian army and after their decommissioning in the early 2000s they were bought by the company Saxiet. It became the acquisition of OIP Land Systems with Israeli owners.
The procurement structure was approved by the Minister of Defense Theo Francken. It prefers to reacquire domestically held assets rather than acquiring foreign stockpiles, as Germany has done. Belgian arms companies will renovate the tank chassis before delivery to Ukraine, and Kyiv will secure further work on the turret systems. The Gepard anti-aircraft system on the chassis of the Leopard I tank is equipped with two rapid-fire 35-millimeter anti-aircraft guns and a radar. It is effective against aerial threats at very short range.
This design was created during the Cold War and was not tested in combat until the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Nevertheless, the systems proved to be very effective on the battlefield there. They are particularly useful in shooting down Russian drones and cruise missiles, as they have lower operating costs than modern missile systems of similar effectiveness.
Germany has already delivered dozens of Cheetahs directly to Ukraine and received more through third countries. After the resumption of the production of their ammunition in Germany, concerns about supplies from Switzerland, which rejected them due to strict rules of neutrality, also dissipated. About 38 Gepards remain in OIP’s inventory, which are stored with other armored vehicles at facilities near Tournai, Belgium.
