Spiegel: German government plans to allow the supply of Gepard SPAD to Ukraine

The German federal government plans to allow the supply of Gepard anti-aircraft self-propelled guns to Ukraine

Spiegel reported this.

The supply of Gepard systems to Ukraine has been discussed for a long time.

KraussMaffei Wegmann (KMW) announced back in February that it still has about 50 weapons that can be delivered to Ukraine after a short repair. A corresponding proposal was made to the federal government.

KMW chief Ralph Ketzel said at the time that weapons systems could be reactivated relatively quickly.

According to the publication, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht will announce at a conference on Ukraine at Ramstein Air Base that Germany wants to allow the supply of anti-aircraft weapons Gepard.

This is a German anti-aircraft self-propelled unit based on the Leopard tank.

In addition, Lambrecht will announce the training of the Ukrainian military at the Panzerhaubitze 2000, which the Netherlands wants to supply to the Ukrainian army.

With this statement, Lambrecht wants to try to soften sharp criticism of Germany's arms supplies to Ukraine, the newspaper writes.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, almost all of his EU counterparts, Ukraine's Defense Minister, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will meet at Ramstein's US base in Germany.