Germany’s IRIS-T Diplomacy




PARIS --- The German air-defence system IRIS-T has become as central in the German defence diplomacy as the Leopard MBT or the U-209 were until the mid-2010s.

Central to Ukraine…

In the massive transfer of weapons to Ukraine, the IRIS-T has always been a central card in the German assistance. Demanded by the impetuous former Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Mr. Andriy Melnyk, the IRIS-T suited very well to the German philosophy of assistance to Ukraine: both defensive in character and effective.

As a first step, the German Government has asked Egypt (albeit never mentioned) to take one battery (3 launchers) from its 2018 order (for 7 batteries of IRIS-T-SLM along with 6 batteries of IRIS-T-SLS and 10 batteries of IRIS-T-SLX) and re-direct it to Ukraine. As Germany never purchased this air-defence system, the sole export customer to have this specific version was indeed Egypt.

The value of the first battery was €178m, paid by the German fund set-up in 2016 for the military assistance to third countries (“Ertüchtigungshilfe”). This Egyptian battery was delivered to Ukraine in October 2022.

As a second step, Germany ordered from Diehl Defence BGT three more batteries of this version. The second battery was delivered in April (3 launchers with 16 missiles only). The remaining two batteries will be delivered the following months.

The global project includes 11 batteries of IRIS-T-SLM to defend five Ukrainian cities (Kiev, Charkiw, Dnipro, Mykolajiw et Odessa) and is worth €1.5Bn.

On May 3, the Ukrainian MoD released a video claiming that the cutting-edge system has shot down over 60 targets since tis deployment, and praising its high kill ratio.

....Central to the future ESSI

The main proposal of the speech delivered by Chancellor Scholz in Prague on August 29, 2022, the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) is in fact a multi-layered air defence proposal where, discretely, the surface-launch version of the IRIS-T air-to-air missile will play an important role in the German defence diplomacy.

If the acquisition of the Arrow-3 (planned for this year), along with the Patriot-3 MSE, has drawn the attention given its origins and capabilities, little has been said about the role of the IRIS-T in this initiative.

But this role has emerged a few months later when, on May 21, the Estonian and Latvian defence ministers announced that they will enter into negotiations with Diehl Defence to procure the Iris-T surface-launched medium-range (SML) air defence system. With Sweden's future NATO membership, and Norway already a customer of the system (a battery of 6 launchers ordered in November 2019), Germany has made a great leap forward to impose its air defence system as a NATO standard.

In the framework of the NATO’s Joint Project Optic Windmill (JPOW), an exercise integrated air power and missile defence took place in the Netherlands between 22-29 March 2023. Diehl Defence’s Iris-T SLM system took part in the exercise as a “future system” under the command of the German Air Force. As Army Technology noted, “NATO demonstrated the interoperability of Iris-T SLM, testing its connectivity, time synchronisation and air situation exchange in the network."

No doubt other NATO countries will join the IRIS-T club, illustrating once more that Germany excels at imposing its weapon systems as NATO standards.

Central to the Bundeswehr

These export successes, largely due ironically to the rough lobbying of Mr. Melnyk, “will help to expedite its procurement by the Bundeswehr....Relying exclusively on the Patriot, the Bundeswehr will fill the gap of the low-and middle range layers of tis air defence with the IRIS-T-SLM," Army Recongition reported.

The German Army will take the responsibility of the so-called “Nah- und Nächstbereichsschutz” (or NNbS) with the following milestones:

• The IRIS-T-SLS will be assigned to the Army from August 2024: the Eagle and the Boxer IFVs will be armed with launchers for four or six IRIS-SLS missiles.

• The IRIS-T-SLM should be ordered before this Summer (1 battery in 2024 and 5 others in 2027, with 3 more on option) in order to be operational in 2025 (date of entry into full capacity of the complete German heavy division promised to NATO).

In just one year, Germany has managed the feat of imposing its air defence system as the new standard for NATO countries, filling a crucial gap in this air defence, showing that export could lead to domestic procurement: the opposite of what was achieved with the Leopard and the U-209/U-212 submarines...

By 2022, two variants were available:

IRIS-T SLS (short-range) with 12 km range and altitude

IRIS-T SLM (medium range) with 40 km range and 20 km maximum altitude

IRIS-T SLX (long range) variant with a dual-mode (IR and RF) seeker, a range of 80 km and a maximum altitude of 30 km, is in development as of April 2022.

ŠTO ĆE IM VOJNI ROK?
Susjedi na nogama: Vojska Srbije želi militarizaciju mladih

Glavni stožer Vojske Srbije (GŠVS) pokrenuo je inicijativu i predložio srbijanskom predsjedniku i vrhovnom zapovjedniku oružanih snaga Aleksandru Vučiću ponovno uvođenje obveze služenja vojnog roka, u trajanju do četiri mjeseca, priopćilo je u četvrtak srbijansko ministarstvo obrane.

Prema tim navodima, u VS je oko 22.500 ljudi, od toga oko 4200 časnika, 6500 nižih časnika, 8200 profesionalnih vojnika, te oko 3500 civila, dok u cjelini sustav obrane ima u zbroju više od 30.000 ljudi, računajući osim VS u taj broj i Ministarstvo obrane s raznim ustanovama.

Ministarstvo obrane i Vojska Srbije će, prema državnom proračunu za 2024. godinu, imati na raspolaganju 1,35 milijarde eura.

Najveći udio čine personalni troškovi 46,5 posto, zatim nabava naoružanja i vojne opreme 37,9 posto, stalni troškovi su 13,9 posto, a izgradnja 1,7 posto, objavio je portal BBM.

Zar nisu ovdje na forumu tupili godinama da imaju 30000 vojnika?

https://www.klix.ba/vijesti/bih/sta-je-vojnik-eufor-a-radio-na-obiljezavanju-9-januara-u-milicima/240111029

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Austrija izgleda.

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