Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz (left) and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (centre) attended the ceremony marking the IOC of the Luftwaffe's IRIS-T SLM system at Todendorf on 4 September. (Diehl Defence)
The German Luftwaffe's IRIS-T SLM (Surface Launched Medium Range) air-defence system reached its initial operational capability (IOC) on 4 September with the completion of training of its first crew members at the Todendorf training area in northern Germany.
The German government said on its website on 4 September that IRIS-SLM would fill a gap in German air defences, as well as being an important contribution to national and alliance defence and strengthening European air defence.
In his remarks at the ceremony, the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, placed the IRIS-T procurement in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He said, “Russia has been conducting a massive arms build-up for many years, especially with missiles and cruise missiles. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has broken disarmament treaties such as the INF [Intermediate Nuclear Forces] Treaty. He has deployed missiles as far as Kaliningrad, 530 km from Berlin.”
The ceremony took place a month after the Bundesamt für Ausrüstung, Informationstechnik und Nutzung der Bundeswehr (BAAINBw), Germany's Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology, and In-Service Support, received the Luftwaffe's first IRIS-T SLM fire unit from Diehl at the beginning of August, and less than 14 months after the budget committee of the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, approved the procurement of six IRIS-T SLM fire units in June 2023 financed by the Sondervermögen der Bundeswehr special fund approved after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
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