Germany orders 35 mm ammunition from Brazil to be sent to Ukraine
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After intense international pressure, the German government decided to start sending heavy artillery to Ukraine to cope with Russian attacks, particularly with the delivery of 50 KMW Gepard 1A2 armored vehicles directly from the manufacturer’s stocks. However, there is practically no stock of 35 mm ammunition of the pattern used by the two Oerlikon guns of these anti-aircraft artillery tanks in Germany.
Thus, from one moment to the next, the German government saw its supply becoming a problem – since an armored vehicle without gun ammunition is of no use to the Ukrainians – and began contacting operators of this vehicle around the world to try to buy back ammunition stocks and transfer them to Ukraine. Of all the countries still operating the Gepard 1A2, Brazil was the first on the list to be contacted, as it purchased a significant amount of 35mm ammunition for these weapon systems in 2011/2012.
Ongoing talks involve Brazil, Qatar, and Jordan, which bought the tanks in the past and still have ammunition. “If Germany cannot solve this problem quickly, Ukraine will probably have to reject the offer,” Andrij Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, said Wednesday.
THE GEPARD IN BRAZIL
The Gepard was designed in the 1970s, at the height of the Cold War, to shoot down helicopters and aircraft at a distance of up to 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) and is no longer used by the German military. The 50 armored vehicles offered are stored in a warehouse belonging to the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann company.
Brazil bought the Gepards to protect soccer stadiums during the 2014 World Cup from drones and other aerial threats, the same situation as Qatar, which bought its Gepards for the same purpose, to defend the arenas of the tournament, which will start next November.
With information from InfoDefensa
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