IRIS-T SLM for Germany: Air Force achieves initial operating capability

It was only one year ago that the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag gave its consent to the procurement of a total of six fire units with financial means from the special fund of the Bundeswehr, and thus the go-ahead for the acquisition of IRIS-T SLM to the German Armed Forces. Already at the beginning of August 2024, Diehl Defence delivered the first fire unit IRIS-T SLM to the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment as planned. With today's IOC declaration, the partners involved have reached another milestone on time.

The systems of the type IRIS-T SLM are used to protect critical infrastructure, objects and people on the ground through the engagement of aerial threats originating from aircraft, missiles and drones. The Diehl Defence systems will contribute significantly to the defence capability of the Federal Republic of Germany and other user nations.

Since summer 2023, Diehl Defence and the German Air Force have jointly been operating a training facility for IRIS-T SLM in Todendorf. Course participants of other user nations can be trained on the system on the premises as well. Air Chiefs from several countries of the 'European Sky Shield Initiative' (ESSI) also took part in today's event.

Helmut Rauch, who handed over a symbolic key for the IRIS-T SLM system to Volker Becker, the deputy of Annette Lehnigk-Emden (President of the BAAINBw), on the occasion of the IOC declaration, said: "I am proud that Diehl Defence as a system house for ground-based air defence contributed with its delivery reliability to the fact that the German Air Force could declare its IOC for our system IRIS-T SLM."