Diehl Defense aims to increase production of IRIS-T air defense systems for Ukraine

This is reported by Defense Express. 

The IRIS-T anti-aircraft missile systems have proven successful against Russian missiles and drones in Ukraine, and the system's builder, the German military company Diehl military, aims to increase production of this air defense system and missiles for it.

According to Reuters, the company's chief program officer, Harald Buschek, made this comment on Tuesday, September 5. Buschek stated that the company expects to develop three to four anti-aircraft missile systems this year, increasing to eight systems per year by 2025.

"As for missiles, the situation is as follows: Diehl Defense has tripled its production this year and plans to double it next year. According to preliminary plans, the company plans to produce 400 to 500 missiles in 2024," the company writes. 

Diehl Defense further underlined that the IRIS-T system in Ukraine had shot down more than 110 objects in the air, the majority of which were cruise missiles, and that the technology is nearly 100% efficient. Buschek further stresses that earlier this year, the IRIS-T successfully thwarted a 13-cruise-missile attack on Kyiv.

Germany has already supplied Ukraine with two IRIS-T SLM anti-aircraft missile systems and plans to supply six more in the future.

Furthermore, in August of this year, Germany handed over to Ukraine for the first time a short-range version of this system - two IRIS-T SLS launchers capable of destroying targets at a range of up to 10 kilometers.