Belgium is set to purchase 15 Gepard-type anti-aircraft tanks for subsequent delivery to Ukraine, reports L'Echo based on sources within the Defence Ministry. The measure is part of a €1 billion military aid package approved in early April.
Belgium will purchase the military vehicles, which date from the 1970s, from OIP, the Belgian subsidiary of the Israeli group Elbit Systems. The company Sabiex, which has since been taken over by OIP, had itself purchased the vehicles from the Defence Ministry after they were taken out of service in the 2000s.
The armoured vehicles will be made roadworthy again by a Belgian company before being delivered to Ukraine. The purchase price is not known.
The Gepard, produced by German and Swiss companies, is a tracked vehicle equipped with two 35 mm anti-aircraft guns, linked to two radar systems, and is designed to repel threats at very close range.
Belgium had purchased 54 of them. They had never been deployed in combat situations prior to the war in Ukraine, but proved to be highly effective against Russian suicide drones and cruise missiles.
