The Prime Minister of Ukraine talked about the unexpected effectiveness of the German-delivered IRIS-T air defense system on the battlefield.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently promised that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will receive three new IRIS-T SLM air defense missile systems as soon as possible. The previously delivered IRIS-T systems has effectively protected the Kyiv region from aerial threats.
Olaf Scholz announced the plan at the opening of the business forum on Ukraine reconstruction held in Berlin.
The German Leader noted that at this moment it was nessessary to protect, Ukrainian cities, villages, bridges, streets and railways from russian attacks and announced the transfer of three more IRIS-T SLM air defense missile systems as soon as possible. Each of these systems can be used by the Ukrainian Army to protect a individual large city.
It should be added, on October 12, 2022, two days after the massive missile attack by the Russian Armed Forces on Kyiv, and many other Ukrainian cities, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine announced the arrival of advanced air defense systems in the form of, the first batch of IRIS-T SLM.
Ukrainian media later called the event “a new era of air defense warfare”. In addition, the country’s press also reported the news of the arrival of the TRML-4D radar along with the IRIS-T SLM.
At the same time, the delivery of the other three IRIS-T SLM air defense missile systems out of the four that Germany has earlier promised will be slightly delayed. The Armed Forces of Ukraine will receive only the next system by the end of the year, while the remaining two systems are due in 2023.
With Mr. Scholz’s speech, it can be concluded that at least the Ukrainian Army will receive 3 IRIS-T SLM air defense missile systems this year, anyway, such progress has already exceeded Kyiv’s initial expectations.
A formal decision may be taken by Germany after a regular meeting in Ramstein, which will take place in mid-October 2022, in the context of the escalating war situation in Ukraine with air attacks being stepped up.
It should also be recalled here that at the, international security forum held in Berlin, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, also spoke about the effectiveness of the IRIS-T air defense missile systems produced and transferred by Germany to Ukraine.
According to him, the IRIS-T SLM air defense missile systems are showing the highest combat effectiveness among all of the air defense systems in the service of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, having destroyed 9 out of 10 missiles fired by the Russian Armed Forces towards Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader did not provide details about the battle, in which the IRIS-T shot down 9 russian missiles, he also did not revealed about what type of missiles did the german-supplied system shot down. But according to some reports, the IRIS-T shot down one of the most advanced cruise missiles of the Russian Air Force, the Kh-101.
If the above-mentioned information is correct, the effectiveness of the IRIS-T SLM air defense missile system is really great, it far exceeds the Buk-M1 complex that plays the role of the being the backbone of the Ukrainian Air Defense Systems.
However, this above-mentioned information has not been confirmed by the Russian side.
In addition to IRIS-T SLM, it is expected that by the end of this year, Ukraine will also receive another type of medium-range surface-to-air missile defence system, the NASAMS, which is manufactured by the USA and Norway, this missile defense system has very strong features.