In July this year, Germany provided 15 "cheetah" air defense tanks to Ukraine, and the Ukrainian army quickly deployed these air defense tanks to the front line. With the emergence of " Cheetah ", Ukraine's air defense system has been well supplemented, especially when facing the threat of drone , the "cheetah" air defense tank has shown strong interception capabilities.
"Cheetah" air defense tank
Because I saw the outstanding actual combat performance of the "Cheetah" air defense tank, Kiev hopes that Berlin can provide additional assistance. So in Germany's latest aid list, the name of the "Cheetah" air defense tank is listed.
"Cheetah" air defense tank conducts firepower testing
"Cheetah" air defense tank research and development began in the 1960s. At that time, the main battle tank of Leopard 1 was only put into mass production, so West German struck while the iron was hot, preparing to develop a high-performance field air defense vehicle based on the chassis of the main battle tank of Leopard 1. The research and development process of the "Chetah" air defense tank is a typical case of defeating the more with fewer and defeating the strong with weaker.
Early "cheetah" air defense tank
After determining the R&D plan, the West German government commissioned two R&D teams: one led by Rheinmetall, and other members include General Electric, Siemens , Krauss Mafi and Porsche , and the R&D lineup is quite strong. Another group has only one company, which is the Swiss Oerlikon, which is known for the production of 20mm automatic guns. (In 2009, Germany Rheindi Metal acquired and merged Oerlikon )
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 The final result was also very dramatic: the Rheinmetall Group's plan was not recognized, but rather was not favored by Oerlikon, but their prototype car was successfully favored by the West German government.
Prototype car designed by Oerlikon, codenamed 5-PFZ-A
As a field air defense vehicle, the most important technical feature of the "Cheetah" air defense tank is firepower. Its main weapon is two 35mm Oerlikon automatic cannons, which can fire 1,100 shells per minute. With the turret's 360° rotation function, the main weapon of the "cheetah" can carry out all-round strikes. When necessary, the two cannons cannons can also shoot vertically at an angle of nearly 90°.
Jordan-equipped "cheetah" air defense tank
In air defense operations, when "cheetah" searches and strikes targets, it must rely on the vehicle-mounted radar . The Cheetah air defense tank has two radars, one for target search and the other for target tracking. The Doppler radar installed at the rear of the vehicle can rotate 60 times per minute, with a maximum search range of 15 kilometers; when the Doppler radar detects the target and confirms that it is a threat, the tracking radar installed at the front of the vehicle will take over the target. Once the lock is completed, the on-board fire control system will quickly calculate the distance and angle and launch an attack on the target at the same time.
Search radar installed on the back of the "Cheetah"
In terms of armor protection, the performance of the "Cheetah" air defense tank is relatively ordinary, and passive defense relies on its own steel body, which can withstand the attacks of some small weapons. If you encounter an enemy tank or infantry fighting vehicle , the "cheetah" can only fire 40 anti-tank shells it carries to counter.
"Cheetah" turret
However, with the development of technology, Germany has also carried out modernization and upgrading some "Cheetah" air defense tanks in the future, such as replacing them with digital fire control systems and new radars; even among some models, "Sthorn" missiles will be installed on the side of the cannon of the "Cheetah" air defense tank. This is mainly to use the "Cheetah" radar system to improve the strike efficiency of the "Sthorn" missile.
"Sthorn" air defense missile installed on the side of the "Cheetah" cannon
Since the birth of the "Cheetah", Germany has produced a total of 570 such air defense tanks.In addition to the German army's own use, the "cheetah" air defense tanks are also widely exported to many countries such as Netherlands , Belgium , Brazil, Romania and other countries. However, in 2010, in order to make room for more advanced multi-purpose combat vehicles, the German Army had retired all its "cheetah" air defense tanks.
"Cheetah" air defense tank is very practical for Ukraine
Objectively speaking, the performance of the "Cheetah" air defense tank has lagged significantly behind the times, and we can only sigh for modern high-altitude and high-speed targets. But for Ukraine, this kind of air defense firepower still has many advantages, such as simple control, easy deployment, and low strike cost. Especially when drones frequently participate in wars, the "Cheetah" air defense tank with dense firepower can completely serve as a weapon for anti-drones.
