On September 11, 2023, at the headquarters of the German company Diehl Defense (part of the Diehl Group) in Retenbach near Nuremberg, Estonian and Latvian Defense Ministers Hanno Pevkur and Inara Murniece signed a letter of intent (LoI) with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius about their participation in the European Sky integrated ground air defense system program Shield Initiative (ESSI). At the same time, the Defense Ministers of Estonia and Latvia signed a framework agreement with Diehl Defense on the purchase of IRIS-T SLM medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems.
The Defense Ministers of Germany, Latvia and Estonia after signing an agreement on the purchase by Latvia and Estonia of IRIS-T SLM medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems manufactured by the German company Diehl Defense. Retenbach, 11.09.2023 (c) Diehl Defense
The purchase of the IRIS-T SLM is carried out by Estonia and Latvia jointly with the coordinating role of the State Defense Investment Center of the Ministry of Defense of Estonia (Riigi Kaitseinvesteeringute Keskus - RKIK). Estonia and Latvia signed a memorandum on joint procurement of medium-range air defense systems in June 2022 at the NATO summit in Madrid. In July last year, the RCIC signed an agreement with the Ministry of Defense of Latvia on the start of joint procurement. The Estonian government has allocated funds for the purchase of medium-range air defense systems in September 2022.
According to the RKIK press release, the cost of the Estonian part of the purchase of the SAM is 400 million euros, which makes it the largest defense contract in the history of Estonia. It is reported that pre-contract negotiations with the supplier are continuing, it is planned that after the conclusion of the contract, the delivery will be carried out within the next three years. According to RKIK, Estonia should receive the first SAM in 2025.
Developed by Diehl Defense with funding from the German Ministry of Defense under a 2007 contract, the IRIS-T SLM uses a specially developed anti-aircraft guided missile with a range of up to 40 km and an altitude reach of up to 20 km, equipped with an infrared homing head of the IRIS-T short-range air-to-air guided missile manufactured by Diehl Defense. The IRIS-T SLM missile complex uses additional radio command guidance (in combination with inertial-satellite correction) on the main section of the trajectory with the capture of the target by an infrared type IIR GOS on the final section. The mass of a rocket with a transport and launch container is 280 kg. The complex includes a TOC (Tactical Operations Centre) command post, a mobile detection and targeting radar Saab Giraffe 4A or Hensoldt TRML-4D with AFAR and three mobile vertical launchers of eight missiles each. All elements of the complex are carried out on the chassis of Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV) HX (8x8) military vehicles.
The first customer of the IRIS-T SLM air defense system was Egypt, which contracted 16 complexes under the agreements of 2018 and 2020 (the first seven in 2018), and received the first of them at the end of 2021. In 2022, the German government decided to supply Ukraine with four IRIS-T SLM air defense systems of the new production of Diehl Defense at the expense of German government funding. The issue with the speed of production was resolved by the fact that the complexes for Ukraine were taken from among those manufactured for Egypt, for which it was necessary to reach an agreement with the Egyptian side on the production of a similar number of SAMs for it in return, with the postponement of their deliveries to a later date. This made it possible to supply Ukraine with the first IRIS-T SLM complex already in October 2022, and the second - in early 2023. In total, Ukraine has requested the supply of 10 such SAMs.
In 2022, the German government also signed a contract for the supply of six IRIS-T SLM medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems to the Bundeswehr from 2024 to 2027. Now Estonia and Latvia have thus become the fourth and fifth customers of this complex. A number of other countries are showing interest in purchasing IRIS-T SLM. Due to the wave of orders for these complexes, Diehl Defense intends to increase the production capacity of this SAM several times in the coming years, as well as IRIS-T series missiles.
Elements of the IRIS-T SLM medium-range anti-aircraft missile system manufactured by the German company Diehl Defense in the version with the Hensoldt TRML-4D radar. Retenbach, 11.09.2023 (c) Ministry of Defense of Latvia