A West German crewman of a Flugabwehrkanonenpanzer Gepard (Anti-Aircraft Cannon Tank “Cheetah”), more commonly referred to as the Flakpanzer Gepard, shows off a section of linked 35mm ammunition for the Gepard's twin 35mm Oerlikon GDF automatic cannons. The advent of the jet aircraft in the ground attack role meant that existing self-propelled anti-aircraft guns (SPAAGs) which relied on visual (optical) sighting (also called “clear weather” systems) and manual fire controls were rapidly on the road to obsolescence. The deployment by the Soviet Union of the ZSU-23-4 “Shilka” (Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka; Anti-Aircraft Self-Propelled System) beginning in 1965 which featured the RPK-2 “Tobol” (NATO codename Gun Dish) radar linked to its four 23mm 2A7 autocannons was something that the West had to fear as no NATO country had anything comparable. The U.S. Army did have the T249 Vigilante, a radar-controlled 37mm six-barrel rotary cannon that was capable of spitting out 3,000 rounds per minute. Mounted on a modified M113 armored personnel carrier chassis, development of the T249 started in 1956, one year prior to the start of the ZSU-23-4 program. However, by 1962, the T249 was canceled in favor of the General Dynamics MIM-46 Mauler self-propelled anti-aircraft missile system. Meanwhile, Germany commenced work on the Flapanzer Gepard in 1963 with the first four prototypes being constructed in 1969. These prototypes tested both 30mm and 35mm automatic cannons and on June 25, 1970, it was decided that the Gepard was to utilize the 35mm Oerlikon GDF guns. A year later, a further twelve prototypes were built. The Gepard was not an inexpensive piece of equipment with one Gepard having three times the price of a single Leopard 1 main battle tank (MBT). On February 5, 1973, the approval of funds for the purchase of 420 examples was given and in September of 1973, Krauss-Maffei was contracted to construct and assemble the new SPAAG. The first Gepards entered Bundeswehr service beginning in December 1976.
The chassis of the Gepard consists of a Leopard 1 MBT hull with only a minimal of design changes. The key changes included adding more batteries, slightly increasing the distance between the third and fourth road wheel, and adding a Daimler-Benz OM 314 4-cylinder auxiliary diesel engine into a compartment that originally housed ammunition for the Leopard 1's main gun. This auxiliary engine generates 66 kilowatts and provides power to two tandem Metadyn machines linked to a flywheel which controls the turret traverse and gun elevation drives, two 3-phase 380 Hertz generators that operate the ventilation, fire control, and radar systems, and a Model 300-A 28 volt DC generator for the Gepard's electrical system. 260 gallons of diesel fuel feed the engine and provides up to a maximum of 48 hours of continuous usage. The engine is the same as the Leopard 1, being a MTU built Model 838 10-cylinder multi-fuel engine that produces 819 horsepower which gives the Gepard a maximum speed of 40mph with an operational range of 340 miles. The chassis modifications were done by Krauss-Maffei and also Porsche.
The twin 35mm Oerlikon GDF guns and the turret were designed by Oerlikon-Bührle with the guns having a muzzle velocity of 4,700 feet per second that give an effective range of 5,500 meters. Each gun is supplied with link belted ammunition with a mixture of 320 rounds of anti-aircraft ammunition and 20 rounds of armor-piercing ammunition for a total capacity of 680 rounds. The combined rate of fire for the guns is 1,100 rounds per minute. Maximum gun elevation is 85 degrees with the maximum gun depression being 10 degrees. Fitted to the back of the turret on a retractable arm is the search radar developed by Hollandse Signaalapparaten while fitted to the front of the turret is the tracking radar, designed by Siemens. The search radar operates in the S band and has a 9 mile range while the tracking radar operates in the Ku band and also has a 9 mile range. In addition, the Gepard is equipped with a laser rangefinder. This provides the Gepard with all-weather fire-control. For self-defense, eight smoke grenade launchers are fitted to the turret, four per side. For protection, the turret has approximately 40mm of armor while the hull has between 50mm to 70mm of frontal armor, 35mm of side armor, and 25mm of rear armor. The armor type is RHA (rolled homogeneous armor).
Today, the Gepard has been replaced in Bundeswehr service by the missile-armed Wiesel 2 Ozelot (“Ocelot”) Leichtes Flugabwehrsystem (Light Anti-Aircraft System). Brazil, Jordan, and Romania are the only current operators of the Gepard with Qatar to be the fourth with 15 expected to be in service by 2022 for anti-drone duties.
As a note, the MIM-46 Mauler mentioned above ended up canceled in 1965. During the time of the Gepard's development, the U.S. came up with the M163 Vulcan Air Defense System (VADS) which utilized the General Dynamics M61 20mm 6-barrel Vulcan rotary cannon linked to a simple AN/VPS-2 range finder radar and M61 optical lead-calculating sight. Usage of a night vision sight allowed the M163 to have day and night firing capability. It was to work in conjunction with the missile-armed M48 Chaparral and thus between the two, short to long range engagements of enemy aircraft could be conducted. The M163 used the M113 chassis while the M48 utilized the M730 chassis, the latter a heavily modified carrier variant of the M113. In 1977, the U.S. Army started the M247 Sergeant York DIVAD (Division Air Defense) SPAAG project. Built on a M48 Patton tank chassis, the M247 was developed by Ford Aerospace and consisted of twin 40mm Bofors L/70 cannons in turret which also contained the search radar and the Westinghouse AN/APG-66 tracking radar. The entire M247 program was riddled with problems, not the least of which the M247 was built using as much “off the shelf” components as possible. Other problems included an easily jammed electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM suite), the inability of the M247 to keep pace with the M1 Abrams MBT, a turret which turned too slow to engage fast moving targets, a tracking radar which was incapable of detecting targets from ground clutter and had a slow reaction time, and huge cost overruns. After 50 vehicles were built, the entire project was canceled in August 1985. In the meantime, the U.S. Army kept on using the M163 and M48 Chaparral into the 1990s before the introduction of the M6 Linebacker and later, the M1097 Avenger.
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