Volodymyr Zelenskyy shouldn’t expect the 50 German “Gepard” anti-aircraft tanks to arrive at the front in Ukraine soon and fully operational: Berlin had hardly had to admit that there was hardly any ammunition for the anti-aircraft monsters, and it was known that the “cheetahs” can only be made afloat in a few months – the earliest possible transfer date should be the end of June.
Now there is another, not insignificant fact that could worry the Ukrainian President: the “Cheetah” tanks were created and programmed for a conflict between NATO and other (Russian) air forces – and not for use by allies, who fly Russian fighter jets themselves.
As Die Zeit has now revealed, military experts are warning of an impending fiasco: “Of course, a ‘cheetah’ doesn’t just shoot at it. First comes a friend or foe query.” And that would be the problem: The “cheetah” sends a numeric code to the planes on the radar. The code is fixed throughout NATO and changes regularly. If the planes send back the code, then they are ‘friends’ and only appear hatched on the radar, reports “Zeit”.
If no code is returned to the “Gepard”, a small lamp with the inscription FEIND lights up. Half red, half orange. Orange because the gunner should clarify again whether one of his own jets was accidentally perceived as an enemy.
The problem for Ukraine: The Ukrainian Air Force does not use NATO jets and therefore cannot send a code back to a “cheetah” – they are thus enemy aircraft, just like the Russian MiGs.
This makes it clear: without a (quick) solution to this problem, the 50 “cheetahs” of the Bundeswehr are also a massive threat to the Ukrainian air force.
But before the anti-aircraft tanks are handed over at the end of June, some things may change anyway: Military experts suspect that Vladimir Putin could also declare a state of war and the mobilization of up to five million Russian soldiers at the big victory parade on May 9th.
