The Iris-T air defense system will be delivered to Ukraine in the coming weeks

Ukraine will receive the state-of-the-art IRIS-T air defense system in the near future.

The German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock reported about this.

“Specifically, in the field of air defense, where support is primarily requested, we made sure that the highly modern Iris-T systems were not delivered to another country, but that they were delivered to Ukraine. This will happen in the coming weeks,” said the head of the German Foreign Ministry at a joint briefing with her Icelandic counterpart in Berlin.

Previously, Baerbock stated that Germany plans to provide Ukraine with IRIS-T air defense systems at the end of August or the beginning of September.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the day before that the promised IRIS-T air defense systems would soon be in Ukraine.

Ukraine is expecting to receive a total of 11 such systems.

In June, Ukraine signed a contract with the German Diehl Defense for the purchase of the IRIS-T SL air defense systems. The value of the deal is €178 million, and the German government will allocate money for the purchase.

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

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

There are medium and small radius modifications. IRIS-T SLM allows hitting 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 a 3D active phased array radar (APAR). The German TRML-4D radar (Hensoldt) can also be used, which allows for the detection of targets at a distance of up to 250 km.

The system was produced in 2014, and since 2019, Sweden has been the sole operator of the system. The German government issued a permit for the export of 23 units to Egypt.