Germany’s army rushed an Iris-T air-defence system into service on its own soil for the first time Wednesday having delivered several of the sophisticated systems to war-torn Ukraine to take down Russian rockets, drones and missiles mid-flight.
AFP reports Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the surface-to-air system was part of a long term build-up of German and European defences initiated in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin launching the Ukraine invasion in 2022.
“Russia has been massively rearming for many years, especially in the field of rockets and cruise missiles,” Scholz said at the inauguration ceremony at a base in Todendorf near the northern city of Hamburg.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (L) and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz react during the presentation and activation of Germany’s first IRIS-T SLM medium range air defence system at the military base camp in Todendorf, northern Germany, on September 4, 2024. The German system has already been supplied to Ukraine to intercept Russian rockets, drones and missiles. (DANIEL BOCKWOLDT/AFP via Getty Images)
Putin had broken disarmament treaties and “deployed missiles as far as Kaliningrad”, a Russian exclave located some 330 miles from Berlin, he added.
“It would be negligent not to respond to this appropriately,” the chancellor warned. “A failure to act would put peace at risk. I will not allow that.”
The AFP report notes Scholz, who was joined by Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, said the system was part of the European Sky Shield Initiative, which also includes long-range defences against ballistic missiles.
The German military has ordered six of the Iris-T SLM systems from manufacturer Diehl Defence, to be delivered by May 2027.
Scholz warned Europe, aside from defensive systems, would also need more precision missiles of its own “so that there is no dangerous gap with Russia in this strategically important field”.
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