David Doyle also mentions the Kugelblitz in (The Complete Guide to German Armored Vehicles): -"Kugelblitz" Leichter Flakpanzer IV mit 3 cm Mk 103 als Zwiling Waffe By January 1944, the Allies had achieved air superiority, and the need for a Flakpanzer capable of delivering a high rate of accurate antiaircraft fire was reaching desperate proportions.
As an interim solution, it was proposed to mount the 3 cm FlaK gun with turret, originally developed for use on U-boats, on an unmodified Panzer IV chassis.
Further investigation showed that this was impractical, but, with the concept still appealing, Daimler-Benz was contracted to design a similar new turret as well as the alterations to the Panzer IV chassis necessary to accommodate it.
The new turret, which somewhat resembled an oversized aircraft ball turret, mounted twin 3 cm M103 belt-fed aircraft autocannons.
The new turret required a larger turret ring, and accordingly a Tiger I turret ring was incorporated in the chassis, which required relocating the driver's and radio operator's hatches
In June 1944 three hundred of the vehicles, which were named Kugelblitz, were ordered, with Krupp to produce the chassis and Deutsche Roehrenwerke the superstructure. The first five vehicles were scheduled to be assembled by Stahlindustrie in September 1944, with production to ramp up thereafter.
As was the case with many of Germany's armament programs, and in September when the first vehicles were to be rolling off the production line, instead there was a meeting which forecast that the first two vehicles would not be completed until October. Those two
would be built by Daimler-Benz, with Stahlindustrie beginning production the next month. Further delays led to the estimate of initial Stahlindustrie production to be changed again, to February 1945.
As Germany came to its knees, in February 1945 the decision was made to move Kubelblitz production to Kommando Ostbau. Records indicate that two of the vehicles were actually produced in March." . See also (
http://www.panzerbaer.de/models/48_cmk_flakpz_kugelblitz-a.htm) and Nuts & Bolts Vol.8.
