This mobile anti aircraft weapon was made for the German army in 1943 to provide battlefield protection for their forces subject to sustained attack by enemy planes. The vehicle was developed, based on the 38T tank chassis, of Czechoslovakian origin already widely employed as the basis for reconnaissance and mobile artillery units. The Gepard carried a 2cm cannon, FLAK 38 and although well armed did not alone deliver the amount of fire needed to protect a location under attack and so it was necessary to deploy them in groups for effective defence. Total production amounted to 140 before manufacture ceased in early 1944.