Germany is planning to supply Ukraine with two IRIS-T air defense systems by the end of this year.

Two more will arrive in early 2023.

German Ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen told about this in an interview with Radio NV.

“I am very happy that we will be transferring four such systems. This will protect a large area of Ukraine. We have already heard that the first system will definitely be, as for me, the second system too, and the third and fourth then, at the beginning of the new year,” Feldhusen noted.

It should be reminded that at the end of August, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that Ukraine will receive IRIS-T systems in the fall.

In June, Ukraine signed a contract with the German company Diehl Defense for the purchase of the IRIS-T SL anti-aircraft missile system. The cost of the contract is 178 million euros, and the German government will allocate money for the purchase.

The basis of the air defense system is the IRIS-T (InfraRed Imaging System Tail) missile with infrared guidance, created on the basis of a single-name air-to-air missile.

Launchers can have a wheeled (MAN 8×8) or tracked chassis (two-section all-terrain BvS10 vehicle) and contain 4 launchers or 8 containers with missiles.

There are modifications of medium and small radius. The IRIS-T SLM can hit targets at a distance of up to 40 km, and in the “shorter” version of the SLS – up to 25.

The main sensor of the system is the Australian CEAFAR GBMMR radar with active electronically scanned array (AESA) 3D-radar. The German TRML-4D radar (Hensoldt) can also be applied, which allows detecting targets at a distance of up to 250 km.

The system was created in 2014, and the only operator of the system since 2019 is Sweden. The German government issued an export permit for 23 units to Egypt.