German army activates air-defence system, citing Russia threat
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (centre) talking to German soliders during the ceremonial commissioning of an Iris-T SLM air defence system, in Todendorf, northern Germany, on Sept 4.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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TODENDORF, Germany - Germany’s military put its first Iris-T air defence system into service on its own soil on Sept 4, having delivered several of them to war-torn Ukraine to intercept Russian rockets, drones and missiles.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the surface-to-air system was part of a build-up of German and European defences launched after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Russia has been massively rearming for many years, especially in the field of rockets and cruise missiles,” Mr Scholz said at the inauguration ceremony at a base in Todendorf, near the northern city of Hamburg.
Mr Putin had broken disarmament treaties and “deployed missiles as far as Kaliningrad”, a Russian exclave located some 530km from Berlin, he added.
“It would be negligent not to respond to this appropriately,” the Chancellor said. “A failure to act would put peace at risk. I will not allow that.”
Mr 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 Iris-T SLM systems at a total cost of €950 million (S$1.4 billion) from manufacturer Diehl Defence, to be delivered by May 2027.
Iris-T success in Ukraine
Germany, the second-largest contributor of military aid to Ukraine after the US, has already supplied four Iris-T SLM systems to Ukraine and pledged another eight.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov was visiting Germany on Sept 4, a day after a Russian missile attack killed at least 51 people
Rescue workers clearing debris from a military academy struck by a Russian missile in Poltava, Ukraine, on Sept 3.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
The Iris-T systems sent to Ukraine feature truck-mounted launchers that fire missiles to intercept aerial threats at a range of up to 40km.
Mr Scholz said that “in Ukraine, Iris-T has shot down over 250 rockets, drones and cruise missiles to date and saved countless lives”.
The German leader said that 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”.
In July, Washington and Berlin announced that the “episodic deployments” of long-range US missiles, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, to Germany would begin in 2026.
Mr Scholz stressed that “our sole concern is to deter potential attackers. Every attack on us must mean a risk for the attacker. Our concern is to secure peace here and prevent war, and nothing else”. AFP
