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Status: 10/12/2022 1:17 p.m
Germany handed over the Iris-T SLM air defense system to Ukraine. It aims to protect Ukrainian cities from Russian attacks by planes, helicopters and missiles. How does it work?
Shortly after Russia’s new missile attacks on dozens of Ukrainian cities, Germany handed over the Iris-T SLM air defense system to the country. The federal government is thus keeping a promise that Chancellor Olaf Scholz made in the Bundestag at the beginning of June.
According to the federal government, the weapon is the most modern air defense system in Germany. Even the Bundeswehr does not yet have this. It is delivered to Ukraine directly from the manufacturer. The Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov spoke on Twitter of a “new era of air defense”.
A kind of protective shield
Iris-T SLM is a ground-based air defense system and was largely developed by the German company Diehl Defence. The system, each costing 140 million euros, consists of several components: radar system, command post and three rocket launchers mounted on trucks.
It fires a missile to defend against helicopters, airplanes, cruise missiles and missiles. The radar determines the direction of the attack; At the end of the approach, the rocket’s seeker head, which reacts to infrared, i.e. thermal radiation, takes over.
The range of the system is significantly greater than that of shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles such as the Stinger anti-aircraft missiles also supplied by Germany to Ukraine. Iris-T SLM can fire at targets up to 20 kilometers altitude and 40 kilometers range. So a kind of protective screen is stretched over an area.
“Especially the ground-based air defense is able to permanently protect rooms over a longer period of time,” writes the manufacturer. One of these systems can protect a medium-sized city such as Nuremberg or Hanover.
The anti-aircraft system is mobile and can quickly change location when scouted by the enemy. The system is then ready to fire again in a short time. However, there is no such thing as 100 percent protection. Thus, decoys can deflect a single missile or a majority of attacking objects can overwhelm the sensors or the entire system.
Introduction in the German Armed Forces only from 2025
Ukrainian soldiers have already been trained on the weapon system in Germany. Industry took over the technical support. Air Force specialists took over the tactical training.
In total, Germany intends to provide Ukraine with four of the systems of the ground-based type. The delivery of three further systems probably also depends on whether Egypt agrees to a later delivery of an order that has already been placed. In the Bundeswehr itself, the ground-based system is not to be introduced until 2025.