For Estonia, the procurement is the largest defence investment in the country’s history to date. For Diehl Defence, the handover reflects the growth strategy the company says it has pursued in recent years.
Diehl Defence said it has significantly expanded capacity at all production sites to meet increased demand from European NATO member states. The company said the delivery to Estonia shows its ability to supply systems despite pressure in the European air defence market.
The handover also underlines the role of the European Sky Shield Initiative as a procurement framework. ESSI was initiated by Germany in 2022 to establish an integrated European ground-based air defence system and now includes 23 member states.
Eight ESSI countries have procured IRIS-T SLM: Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland. Diehl Defence said the standardised ESSI contractual framework enables faster procurement processes and creates long-term synergies in training, maintenance and logistics.
The IRIS-T SLM system is designed to protect armed forces, civilians and critical infrastructure against aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles and drones. It can engage threats at ranges of up to 40 km and altitudes of up to 20 km.
A fire unit consists of a launcher, radar and tactical operations centre. Diehl Defence said the system is characterised by high tactical mobility, true 360-degree coverage and the ability to engage multiple targets with minimal manpower.
The company said IRIS-T SLM has achieved an interception success rate of more than 95 percent. Its effectiveness has been proven many times in operational use in Ukraine, according to Diehl Defence.
“IRIS-T is a medium-range air defence system that has proven itself in Ukraine, and it brings our air defence to a new level, giving us the ability to engage an adversary’s actions from significantly greater distances and altitudes than our existing short-range systems. The war in Ukraine has clearly shown that a strong air defence is a central part of national defence, essential for protecting our people, our defence forces’ units, and critical infrastructure”, said Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur.
Helmut Rauch, CEO of Diehl Defence, said: “The delivery to Estonia shows that we are able to deliver even under the significant pressure that the European air defence market is currently experiencing. With every system we deliver, we strengthen our partners’ defence capabilities, make a measurable contribution to the NATO alliance’s security architecture, and thereby also help protect the Estonian people.”
The first Estonian fire unit marks another IRIS-T SLM delivery within NATO’s air defence build-up. Diehl Defence said each delivered system strengthens partner defence capabilities and contributes to the alliance’s wider security architecture.
